The Backbone of Technical Writing Is Taxonomy
Technical writing is knowledge management, which organizes information for a defined purpose, and that’s where taxonomy comes into play as a backbone
Some time ago, I came across The Accidental Taxonomist (link not affiliated) by Heather Hedden. Sure, I found it helpful, but I quickly forgot this reading. I can’t say why. As a technical writer, I am a taxonomist, too, so this quick forgetfulness is even more bizarre.
However, nothing substantial can fall into oblivion, only dozing off to return more lucidly after a restful sleep. That’s what happened to me with The Accidental Taxonomist: a few months after reading it, I discovered it had become the background of my thinking as a technical writer.
Based on that awareness, I built a mind map by putting together what I highlighted while reading the book. That’s the map you have found at the beginning of this last article of 2022, where I want to share with you why I deem taxonomy to be the backbone of technical writing.
All quotes you will find in the article are from The Accidental Taxonomist. If you are a technical writer, it’s a priceless reading. If you are not, it’s a great start to learning how to think efficiently.
Let’s get started!
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is about building a formal language with knowledge management purposes:
“[…] taxonomies are defined as any knowledge organization system (controlled vocabulary, synonym ring, thesaurus, hierarchical term tree, or ontology) used to support information/content findability, discovery, and access.”
There’s a story behind the word:
“[…] the word taxonomy comes from the Greek taxis, meaning arrangement or order, and nomos, meaning law or science.”
As the knowledge management backbone, taxonomy has defined purposes:
“[…] there are three main applications of taxonomies: •Indexing support (manual or automated) •Retrieval support (including both search and discovery) •Organization and navigation support”
Knowledge is made up of concepts, which are:
“A concept is a thing, idea, or shared understanding of something.”
In daily speaking, we use many words to appoint the same concept. That’s common in technical writing, too. Yet, that’s a source of ambiguity, so we need a way to tame it: the distinctions between preferred and nonpreferred terms is the solution:
“A preferred term is the official displayed word or phrase for the concept. “
In fact:
“[…] a concept is more than just a term. It comprises a preferred term and its equivalent nonpreferred term(s) with a single definition and possibly additional information.”
A concept is more than a term. Nevertheless, a concept is a term, too. That’s why vocabulary is king.
Controlled vocabulary
If the taxonomy is the map of knowledge management, words are like places on that map. The map can be reliable only when the name of the places it describes is agreed upon and under control. Likewise, terms in a taxonomy require a controlled vocabulary:
“At a minimum, a controlled vocabulary is simply a restricted list of words or terms for some specialized purpose, usually for indexing, labeling, or categorizing. It is “controlled” because only terms from the list may be used for the subject area covered. If used by more than one person, it is also controlled in the sense that there is control over who may add terms to the list and when and how they may do it. The list may grow, but only under defined policies.”
Thesaurus
Once words have their controlled definition, you, as a technical writer, need to clarify the primary relationships among them: That’s when the thesaurus comes to play:
“The consensus is that if a controlled vocabulary includes both broader/narrower and related term relationships between terms, along with nonpreferred terms that redirect to the accepted term, then it is called a thesaurus.”
Ontology
A subject matter is built upon concepts, which are the ground. Yet, relationships among concepts are the actual core, not the concepts themselves. Relationships define paths of reasoning and make possible inferences. That’s what ontologies formalize:
“An ontology can be considered a type of taxonomy with even more complex relationships between terms than in a thesaurus. Actually, an ontology is more than that; it aims to describe a domain of knowledge, a subject area, by both its terms (called individuals or instances) and their relationships and thus supports inferencing.”
Ontologies, unlike the thesauri, go beyond the fundamental kinds of relationships like broader/narrower and allow us to ground whatever complex knowledge system:
“The relationships between terms within an ontology are not limited to broader/narrower and related. Rather, there can be any number of domain-specific types of relationship pairs, such as owns/belongs to, produces/is produced by, and has members/is a member of. The creator of the ontology also creates these relationship types.”
Conclusion
A technical writing project is similar to a construction project: there is a need for scaffolding to keep control of its many facets.
Taxonomy is that scaffolding that disappears when the output is in front of the audience but is there when the technical writer builds it. From controlled vocabularies to ontologies, from technical writers’ standpoint, taxonomy is much more than a scaffolder: it’s the backbone of their thinking system that relies on words and tames them with nomos.
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