I didn't see any mention of this in my search (point me in the right direction if I missed it), so I'll bring it up.

Much like being able to add meta data to our home nodes, could the search functionality within monks be improved by adding keyword meta data to the nodes themselves? For instance, take this node:

Although the title is "Finding the Distance between longitude and latitude pairs", some good meta data to add to this node might include: 

<!-- keyword:Great Circle Distance-->
<!-- keyword:Haversine-->
<!-- keyword:Law of cosines-->
<!-- keyword:Geographical Distance-->

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This would allow an author to include relevant, relational words to his text without having to try to use them all in a sentence. <Tongue in cheek/>, and it allows a searcher to narrow the scope of his/her search (Title and Keywords), with out limiting the results as drastically.

Thoughts?

C-.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
(kudra: keyword nodelet) Re: Searchable keyword meta data in nodes
by kudra (Vicar) on Jun 10, 2002 at 13:22 UTC
    The keyword nodelet already contains the technology for attaching keywords to nodelets, so there's no reason to introduce a new syntax. I suspect the original intention behind it was to allow searching on keywords.

    However, there's little point in putting that in to search, given how few nodes have good keywords...which is no doubt part of the reason why so few nodes have good keywords. Perhaps when search is revamped it will include the ability to search by keywords, and then maybe people will use them.

[reply]
      I have a couple issues with the "Keyword" nodelet as it stands, and although I agree that adding a new syntax might be confusing or redundant, I'm not sure that it's redundant if noone is using the current one to begin with. Implementing a new syntax, or at least a new interface to the old method, might motivate people to use it.

      1. It isn't searchable (Correct me if I'm wrong).
      2. It is not linked directly to the creation of a node.

      1. If it isn't searchable, then there isn't really any point in having the nodelet to begin with, is there? The idea behind attaching metadata to other data is to add granularity and depth to the search functionality of a site.
      2. One of the reasons, I believe, that there is a lack of good keyword usage is that the attachment of keywords to nodes is not directly linked to the creation of a node itself. If I could add those keywords in to my text window, then all is handled from one location and I, as a writer, can go about my merry way. It took me a couple weeks before I even activated that nodelet and figured out what it was. As a beginner, it wasn't immediately apparent that the two are linked.

        I'm not against leaving the nodelet as is, but perhaps have a textbox beneath the title and allow the author to add them sperated by a comma or <ADD YOUR FAVORITE DELIMITER HERE> at creation time, and then translate them to the nodelet after submission for further addition and subtraction of keywords.

        This puts the idea of metadata right infront of the author, who might actually spend a second and think about it, and gives us, as data miners, more data points to search across.
      C-.
[reply]
      It would be interesting to have the keyword nodelet text box simultaneously available at composition time. Authors could add keywords in the same click.

      Admittedly, some may not be aware of some of the best keywords for their questions/answers, but it may help remind thinking about it.

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Re: Searchable keyword meta data in nodes
by particle (Vicar) on Jun 10, 2002 at 13:16 UTC
    i already use html comments in my nodes -- i keep some tags handy in my sig (below.) every once in a while i'll add a keyword or phrase to a node so i can google with confidence. it would be nice to have some supported tags, but you can at least track your own nodes by implementing this method yourself... i already do :)

    <!-- a handy place to keep tags 
<code>
.
</code >
<blockquote><em>.</em></blockquote>
<strong>.</strong>
<ul>
 <li>.</li>
 <li>.</li>
</ul>
-->

    [download]

    ~Particle *accelerates*

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