I was asked recently in an interview, whilst they read my resume, what a taxonomy is. I basically said it was a way to categorise and organise content and assets in a clear way. I looked it up in the dictionary and found that Taxonomy (from Greek “taxis” meaning arrangement or division and “nomos” meaning law) is the science of classification according to a pre-determined system with the resulting catalog used to provide a conceptual framework for discussion, analysis, or information retrieval.
I explained to the interviewer, think back to your high-school Biology class. We used to have to know the basic taxonomy for categorising living species: Kingdom->Phylum->Class->Order->Family->Genus->Species.
Taxonomies are different from metadata in that a taxonomy helps you to organise your content and assets as opposed to being hidden from the user and only found whilst searching for the content. By defining and using a taxonomy can offer additional benefits in that users of a digital management system like Adobe Bridge will be categorising content and assets. The interviewer then asked, so how does one go about making one, so I thought about it and explained that. Taxonomies should be media independent, should have a logical hierarchy, they should be easy to understand by users in different divisions or departments, they should avoid acronyms or abbreviations where possible and should be not too deep in the nesting.
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Published by theirishduck
I love the ability where I can plan, prioritise, design, develop and deliver blended learning solutions for a variety of markets. I love to consult and advise about the best use of digital learning and improve design standards in line with evolving ways of working. I also enjoy to keep up to date with, understand and regularly recommend emerging technologies and practice to improve individuals, teams and organisational capabilities.
With over 12 years digital learning experience and demonstrated experience in both instructional design and eLearning development, I have also a lot of experience conducting training needs analysis including how to leverage principles such as design thinking and root cause analysis to understand and address performance gaps. I also have led many facilitation workshops and even presented at iDesignX and Game Developers Conferences both here in Australia, Wales and in the United States.
I bring loads of coding experience in Java, ASM, C++, HTML, JavaScript, SCORM and xAPI, as well as proven capability using Adobe Captivate, Trivantis Lectora and Articulate Storyline 360 Studio authoring programs. Of course, Adobe Creative Cloud is also part of my toolbox which I also use daily. Being taught traditional and advanced 3D animation techniques, I love hand drawing and polymer clay sculpture, but can also use the Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya and Softimage applications.
With strong multimedia, training and programming backgrounds, I understand modern learner behaviour including micro and social learning, I am very familiar with most LMSes and app-based (XCode and Android Studio), adult learning models and e-solutions.
I also possess the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, whilst being pro-active in delivering work independently with minimal supervision, but enjoy working in teams.
I've been told I am a resilient, relationship focused guy which can manage and navigate conflicting views and stakeholders/subject matter experts.
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