Perspectives

Lessons From a Factor Intern

Hello! I’m Xavier, and I’m the current summer intern at Factor. I had the opportunity to focus on taxonomy, user research, and data governance. I’d like to share a few tips on entering the IA field for the first time.

Ambiguity in Times of Crises

If you feel like you’re experiencing Information Anxiety right now, you’re not alone. We’ve been trying to make sense of all the COVID-19 information being thrown around. It is now more important than ever that we rely on IA fundamentals to clarify, communicate, and even comfort.

When “Broken” Search is a Trailing Indicator of Deeper Issues

Often, after digging into projects it becomes clear that “search” is a trailing indicator of more systemic problems. Fixing or replacing a search engine is not always sufficient to address the underlying goals (even though it is necessary in some cases). “Search” projects often morph into knowledge management, content strategy, or information modeling initiatives…

Taxonomies and AI Chatbots

This blog post is adapted from a Presentation by Gary Carlson at Taxonomy Bootcamp, November 2018 Taxonomies, AI, and Chatbots: Connecting People With Information There is a natural relationship between AI chatbots and taxonomies—but how do they work together? More importantly, how can taxonomies/ontologies support best AI practices? Taxonomies and ontologies interact with, support, and …

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Scalable Taxonomies

In working on enterprise taxonomy projects, the issue of scale always comes up. “Scale” is a word that gets tossed around a lot but what does it really mean for taxonomies? How can taxonomies scale? What do organizations need to think about when considering requirements for taxonomy scale? We’ve found that the best way to …

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