Participants in this survey were self-described taxonomists, who responded to a notice posted on the Taxonomy Community of Practice discussion group (finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxoCoP). Participants replied between November 21, 2008, and January 1, 2009. A total of 65 people responded, although for some questions only 63 or 64 replied.
1. To what extent do you create and maintain taxonomies?
| My primary job responsibility | 39.1% | 25 |
| One of my job responsibilities, but secondary: | 35.9% | 23 |
| A special assigned project, not in my job description or an originally expected responsibility | 7.8% | 5 |
| Work done as contract/freelance often | 12.5% | 8 |
| Work done as contract/freelance only occasionally | 4.7% | 3 |
2. What is your (usual) employment situation?
| Employee of an organization that uses taxonomies primarily internally, for its website, and/or in ecommerce | 44.4% | 28 |
| Employee of an organization that incorporates taxonomies into a marketed information product or information service | 19.0% | 12 |
| Employee of a company or agency that provides taxonomy services or custom taxonomies to clients | 11.1% | 7 |
| Independent contractor or freelancer (obtaining work primarily through subcontracting, working through agencies or other third parties, or as a temp employee) | 7.9% | 5 |
| Consultant or business owner/partner (obtaining work primarily by bidding or pitching to direct clients) | 17.5% | 11 |
3. How long have you been doing work on taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, metadata for classification or tagging, thesauri, or authority files?
| Less than 1 year | 9.2% | 6 |
| 1–2 years | 7.7% | 5 |
| 2–4 years | 13.8% | 9 |
| 4–6 years | 10.8% | 7 |
| 6–8 years | 12.3% | 8 |
| 8–10 years | 7.7% | 5 |
| 10–15 years | 12.3% | 8 |
| Over 15 years | 26.2% | 17 |
4. How long have you been doing work specifically called taxonomy?
| Less than 1 year | 14.1% | 9 |
| 1–2 years | 17.2% | 11 |
| 2–4 years | 20.3% | 13 |
| 4–6 years | 10.9% | 7 |
| 6–8 years | 21.9% | 14 |
| 8–10 years | 4.7% | 3 |
| 10–15 years | 4.7% | 3 |
| Over 15 years | 6.3% | 4 |
5. What degree(s) do you hold? (May make multiple selections)
| Associates degree only (2 year college) | 4.7% | 3 |
| BA only (4 year college) | 23.4% | 15 |
| BS only (4 year college) | 7.8% | 5 |
| MA | 14.1% | 9 |
| MS/M Eng. | 14.1% | 9 |
| MLS/MLIS | 48.4% | 31 |
| MBA | 3.1% | 2 |
| PhD/doctorate | 6.3% | 4 |
| Other advanced degree | 3.1% | 2 |
6. What is your study or training specifically in the field of taxonomy or classification? (May make multiple selections)
| Concentration/specialty within a degree program | 13.8% | 9 |
| Two or more college/university credit courses | 16.9% | 11 |
| One college/university credit course | 3.1% | 2 |
| Continuing education course or workshop | 13.8% | 9 |
| Conference or professional seminar workshop | 38.5% | 25 |
| On the job formal training | 21.5% | 14 |
| On the job informal learning and experience | 83.1% | 54 |
| Self taught through reading | 53.8% | 35 |
7. Prior to your work in taxonomies, which best describes your professional background?
| Librarian | 27.7% | 18 |
| Knowledge management | 7.7% | 5 |
| Content management/ECM | 4.6% | 3 |
| Document management/records management | 4.6% | 3 |
| Project management | 3.1% | 2 |
| Web user experience/information architecture | 4.6% | 3 |
| Software/IT | 12.3% | 8 |
| Database design, development, or administration | 6.2% | 4 |
| Indexing | 7.7% | 5 |
| Writing, editing, or publishing | 4.6% | 3 |
| Administrative or clerical | 0.0% | 0 |
| None/student | 7.7% | 5 |
| Other | 9.2% | 6 |
8. What software do you use to create taxonomies?
| Licensed commercial dedicated thesaurus/taxonomy management software | 37.5% | 24 |
| Licensed open-source ontology/taxonomy development software | 4.6% | 3 |
| Licensed commercial software, of which taxonomy management is a feature, module, or component | 15.6% | 10 |
| An internally developed thesaurus/taxonomy management system | 23.4% | 15 |
| Other commercial software that is not intended for taxonomy creation (such as a word processor, spreadsheet, or database management software) | 18.8% | 12 |
9. Are you familiar with and do you generally try to follow any of the following national or international standards: ANSI/NISO Z39.19 (2005) Guidelines for Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies; ISO 2788 (1986) Guidelines for the Establishment and Development of Monolingual Thesauri; ISO 5964 (1985) Guidelines for the Establishment and Development of Multilingual Thesauri?
| Don’t know the standards and thus don’t follow them | 12.5% | 8 |
| Have read at least some of the standards, but don’t follow them | 17.2% | 11 |
| Generally try to follow what is relevant, but not strictly | 45.3% | 29 |
| Follow or attempt to follow the standards closely and refer to them as needed | 25.0% | 16 |
10. Describe how you first got started doing taxonomy work.
Selections from 56 open-ended comments appear in Chapter 2. For the complete list, contact the author.