The taxonomy market
I have been looking a bit at the market for taxonomy software. It is a category that's taking of fast and there is a lot of consolidation going on. No clear market leader has emerged yet, but once there is one they should make a lot of money. Most software (here's an example:
Semio's taxonomy browser) relies on three flawed ideas:
1. A focus on technology and overly relying on automatic creation of taxonomies and indexing.
2. Simple trees, no facets or systematic advanced types of relationships.
3. Taxonomies without user research.
The promise these companies sell their products with is (in varying degrees): "Automates the creation and maintenance of a taxonomy." While I certainly agree automation has an important part to play in taxonomies (especially the keeping-up-to-date part of them), I am not sure this approach will bring large benefits. Maybe it will though, maybe some taxonomy (however flawed) is still a lot better than none? I am not sure.