What is a taxonomy?
There are both different kinds of taxonomies and different definitions of taxonomies, so it is understandable that there exists uncertainty regarding what a taxonomy actually is. When we think of a taxonomy what often comes to mind is a tree-type hierarchy of terms for classifying things such as plants or animals. The word taxonomy originally meant the science of classifying things, but it has since become a popular term for any hierarchical classification or categorization system—thus, we no longer speak of taxonomy as a science, but rather a taxonomy (plural: taxonomies) as a kind of controlled vocabulary that has a hierarchy. The taxonomy terms are arranged or linked so that narrower/more specific/child terms fall under broader/more generic/parent terms. An example of a term hierarchy might be: • Computers and internet • Software • Internet software • World Wide Web software • HTML editors A controlled vocabulary, at a minimum, is “a restricted list of words or terms used for indexi
