Classification scheme

A classification scheme is the product of arranging things into kinds of things (classes) or into groups of classes.

In the abstract, the resulting structures are a crucial aspect of metadata, often represented as a hierarchical structure and accompanied by descriptive information of the classes or groups. Such a classification scheme is intended to be used for an arrangement or division of individual objects into the classes or groups, and the classes or groups are based on characteristics which the objects (members) have in common.

In linguistics, subordinate concepts are described as hyponyms of their respective superordinates; typically, a hyponym is 'a kind of' its superordinate.

The ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry standard uses classification schemes as a way to classify administered items, such as data elements, in a metadata registry.

Some quality criteria for classification schemes are:

Using one or more classification schemes for the classification of a collection of objects has many benefits. Some of these include:

The following are examples of different kinds of classification schemes. This list is in approximate order from informal to more formal:

One example of a classification scheme for data elements is a representation term.

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