Planning controlled vocabularies for the
UK public sector
Stella G Dextre Clarke Consultant to Office of the e-
Envoy
The context of planning Responsibility of the Office of the e-
Envoy (OeE) Part of its project to develop a
metadata framework and standard Vocabulary debate began August
2000 Consultation among government
departments and other public bodies
What sort of vocabulary? A: Full thesaurus, ISO 2788 style B: High-level vocabulary, linked to
detailed departmental vocabularies- High-level thesaurus- High-level taxonomy
C: Switching tool (metathesaurus) D: Search thesaurus
Search Thesaurus Not used for (human) indexing;
only for searching Types of search thesaurus:
-Expansion via synonym rings-List of term associations-Probabilistic list of term
associations
What sort of vocabulary? A: Full thesaurus, ISO 2788 style B: High-level vocabulary, linked
to detailed departmental vocabularies
C: Switching tool (metathesaurus) D: Search thesaurus
What sort of vocabulary? A: Full thesaurus, ISO 2788 style B: High-level vocabulary, linked
to detailed departmental vocabularies
C: Switching tool (metathesaurus) D: Search thesaurus E: Mainly a discussion forum
What sort of vocabulary? A: Full thesaurus, ISO 2788 style B: High-level vocabulary, linked to
detailed departmental vocabularies C: Switching tool (metathesaurus) D: Search thesaurus E: Mainly a discussion forum F: Taxonomy for automated use
Focus of decisions
Models A and B require consensus from all departments
Models C, D, E or F can be adopted at any time, unilaterally or however
Model A: Full thesaurus Superior retrieval performance Little understood by end-users Demanding at the time of meta-
tagging Quality management essential Verdict: probably not the most
practical proposal
Model B: High level taxonomy The chosen model Relatively simple to build and maintain Allows freedom at departmental level Departments maintain mapping tables
from their own vocabularies. Widespread implementation achievable Leaves open the option of automated
meta-tagging
“Taxonomy” – what’s that? To be the “UK Government
Category List” (GCL) It will evolve from an existing
Policy Category List Basically a simple polyhierarchical
classification scheme With inbuilt synonyms and
relationships, like a thesaurus
Planning – what’s next? Workshop consensus is behind us Departments now planning
implementation, especially mapping procedures
Existing PCL under review, to develop the GCL
Software functional requirements to be established
In conclusion… …We’re ready to start! Distributed system, needing minimal
intervention at the centre Structures in place for consultation and
feedback Departments enthusiastic to implement Options wide open for harnessing new
technologies and giving the public first class access to information.