Assessment of taxonomy building tools

The main objective of the paper is to assess selected taxonomy building tools to review their features and capabilities for supporting development and deployment of taxonomy functions.

A checklist of desirable features and capabilities of taxonomy tools was used for assessment focusing on development, deployment, display, and information environment supported. White papers and product information datasheets on vendor sites were consulted to analyze features and capabilities of selected taxonomy tools.

The review indicates that more than 50 per cent of the selected tools support automatic and hybrid taxonomy building; about 80 per cent allow import and export of taxonomies and vocabularies; and all tools reviewed support classification and tagging. User interfaces, for maintenance, and display in facets, are supported by some tools, while, some have also integrated other visualization tools, or modules to provide clear representation of contents, and relationships.

Analysis is based on review of white papers and product information sheets and is therefore limited to indication of availability features and capabilities. The review does not assess performance of tools which would require use of tools and feedback from actual users.

The checklist used for assessment provides a useful template for organizations interested in assessing tools for taxonomy implementation. A summary of features and capabilities of selected taxonomy tools may also be useful in selecting tools for taxonomy application projects.

Little research has been reported in the literature on assessment methodology and evaluation of taxonomy tools. This study makes a good contribution to the literature on this important aspect of research and makes available useful practical information as well.