When we talk, we speak in natural language. This language is raw, rich, sometimes messy, but real. When we organize our information and label it however, there is so much richness, variance, and confusion in terminology that we often need to impose some order to facilitate agreement between the concepts within the site and the vocabulary of the person using it.

This order can come through a controlled vocabulary


Controlled vocabularies such as those in a taxonomy, thesaurus, and ontology, are the main terminological resources that play a key role in developing the information architecture for online portals and search platforms.

Sometimes used interchangeably, taxonomies and controlled vocabularies are controlled lists of terms used to organize information. Controlled vocabulary can be used in any industry that collects and uses information, such as academic research, libraries, corporations, governmental organizations, etc. Common types of controlled vocabularies include term lists, authority files and thesauri.

Because controlled vocabularies require the use of predefined terms, they can be challenging to adopt and apply, but using controlled vocabularies during data or metadata creation supports consistency and accuracy. There are well-established vocabularies for personal and corporate names, geographic names, topics, concepts, resource types and genres and languages.

Taxonomies provide the hierarchical categorization and classification of content into subject categories and also help to categorize and classify products and brands represented in online directories and product catalogs.


Melody K. Smith
