Taxonomy Rules
Infobase uses taxonomy to place films into curriculum so users can find appropriate content for their courses.
Currently, the On Demand (Academic) taxonomy is three levels deep, including a Subject, a Group, and a Class. The Learn360 (SEARS) taxonomy contains a variable number of levels for each subject.
Infobase will determine which top-level Subjects each title should be assigned to, and these will be indicated in the MMS as Suggested Subjects. Based on the Suggested Subjects, EdGate will assign the appropriate lower levels for both Academic and SEARS taxonomy. Please do not assign any taxonomy outside of the Suggested Subjects.
When appropriate, titles can be cross-list titles in different Classes within the same Subject, but please do so conservatively rather than liberally. No more than three Classes in the same Subject, and only in two Classes in the same Group should be assigned, if needed. Here are some examples to illustrate:
Example #1:
A Shakespeare play should be placed in:
English & Language Arts/British & Irish Literature/Shakespeare and also in
English & Language Arts/Drama and the Theater/Shakespearean Drama
But it should NOT also be assigned to:
English & Language Arts/Drama and the Theater/Playwriting & Plays
Example #2:
If a title is about “Depression and Alcoholism,” two topics that each have a separate Class, it should be assigned to both:
Psychology/Abnormal Psychology/Mood Disorders & Suicide as well as
Psychology/Abnormal Psychology/Substance Abuse, Dependence & Impulse Control
Example #3:
If a title is about “Women and the Media” it should be placed in:
Sociology/Women's and Gender Studies/The Media
But it does not need to be cross-listed in another Class within the same Group, such as
Sociology/Women's and Gender Studies/Feminism.
Taxonomy Notes:
- Classes labeled “Survey” are meant for titles that are a broad survey/overview of a field, and not for “miscellaneous” titles that don’t seem to have a perfect fit among the specific Classes.
- History of (Biology/Medicine/Physical Science/Science & Technology) classes are intended for overviews of the history of a field. Titles on new advances or anything very current do not belong here. Specifically, the titles should be about the history of when and how things were discovered. So a title about the geological evolution of the Earth is not a “History of Earth Science” title, unless it contains significant focus on specific geologists throughout history who made key discoveries that changed our understanding of the Earth’s evolution.