E-Commerce

In a recent study of several e-commerce web sites, Adkisson (2003) discovered the following:

• Of 75 e-commerce sites, 69% used some form of faceted classification
• 77% of sites using faceted classification provided faceted navigation, but no facet-based advanced search
• 6% of sites using faceted classification provided a facet-based advanced search or "gift finder," but no faceted navigation
• 17% of sites provided both faceted navigation and a facet-based advanced search or gift finder
• 67% of sites providing faceted navigation did so at a single point in the browse path. For example, on a top-level page, the user may have the option to browse by brand or category, but no additional faceted navigation options are presented along the browse path
• 28% of sites providing faceted navigation at more than one point in the browse path, creating a progressive filtering experience based on multiple criteria
• 4% of sites providing faceted navigation presented multiple filtering options on the page in a search-like interface. The user selects one or more values from a pull-down, clicks submit, and the page displays a filtered list of links based on the selected values
  
  (Available from: http://www.webdesignpractices.com/navigation/facets.html)

Faceted tea sites

Many sites use varying degrees of faceted classification. The use of facets for navigation is popular. The following tea site, Virtuous Teas, also uses simple notation, for example:

"Darjeeling (11)" is a subfacet of "Black Tea (100)", further subdivided by types of Darjeeling as follows:

01. Darjeeling Margaret's Hope Estate SFTGFOP1 - 2nd Flush 1 oz
02. Darjeeling Chamling Estate FTGFOP1 - 1st Flush 4 oz
03. Darjeeling Selimbong Estate FTGFOP1 - 2nd Flush 4 oz
and so on...

The following sites also employ faceted classification to varying degrees:

Clipper Teas
Adagio Tea
Harney and Sons
Culinary teas
Leaves.com

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Knowledge Management

"Knowledge management (KM) is best understood as an umbrella term for a variety of loosely related practices, programs, and technologies associated with leveraging the "knowledge" of organizations for greater performance or competitive advantage" (KM Connection.com).

Professionals in the field of knowledge management are also experimenting with faceted classification. One website exploring the use of faceted theory in this emerging field is KM Connection.com. The main advantage of faceted classification, for the authors of this site, is that it can accommodate a broad range of perspectives, making it useful for managing a shared knowledge base. Classifying knowledge by means of commonly understood categories is more suitable for the dynamic business environment. Facets can be used or not used, or combined to form new concepts, and new facets can be added with ease.

"In the KM Connection model, the emphasis is on getting the right answers quickly in a rapid changing environment" (KM Connection.com). The authors caution that the KM Connection model of faceted classification is not the strict canonical form used in Library Science. Rather, it is an adaptation of the underlying principles of faceted classification for organizing dynamic business knowledge.

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Web design

The use of faceted classification for online thesauri has been researched and discussed extensively in Information Science literature. Priss and Jacob recommend faceted thesauri "as the basis for a systematic approach to structuring a website," citing that a faceted approach facilitates a "less random" and "more manageable" approach to knowledge organization (Priss and Jacob 1999). Through their analysis of several LIS school websites, the authors developed a model for implementing and using a faceted thesaurus. The model consists of:

• baseline facets
• facet construction by term aggregation or term composition
• subfacets
• facet hierarchies
• NTP's (parts similar to facets that are combined by term composition)
• relational facets
  

The website is created by embedding the appropriate descriptors in the metadata of each page. The hyperlink structure is then created from the imbedded descriptors. Each page remains coherent and consistent within the structure. This model provides a user-friendly structure that "can respond to the needs of specific user groups by combining website content facets with a user need facet" (Ibid.).

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