Tags: a prototype tool

A recent diary on tags discussed the problem of spurious spaces on tag matching and searching. And the tag cleanup project (see Tag:editor_portal) people spend much time normalizing tags, changing "GBW" and "Bush" to "George W. Bush", for example. Part of the problem is editorializing ("Dumbya"), part of the problem is simple misspellings ("Afganistan") and input error, but a large part of the problem is just not knowing the proper tag to use.

So I've put together a tool to build a tagstring from a menu of choices. The idea is not to include every possible tag in a perfect taxonomy, but to provide the proper tag for common, easily misspelled, and potentially ambiguous tags. It won't handle 5000 tags, but should handle a couple of hundred pretty easily.

more on the flip...

It builds a comma separated tagstring (easily changed to semicolons when the time comes) which can be cut and pasted and plopped into the tag box of a diary entry. Those tags not included in the menu can then be added "by hand."

As an "added extra special bonus feature which may be taken away if it turns out to be a stupid idea" (tm) there's a dKosopedia page here which is the input data for the menu. The idea is that at reasonably frequent intervals a bot comes along and rebuilds the menu from the data on this page. If this proves unwieldy then this page will be locked down and changes will be moderated by tag librarian types, but for now let's see what happens.

Note that my initial choice of menu items was mainly for testing, and is not set in stone.

Please try it out and let me know what you think.

•  this tool

  may also be an early early precursor of a revised diary entry tagging scheme.

  by The Centerfielder on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 04:17:26 PM PDT

  •  brilliant. brilliant. brilliant.

    it absolutely needs to go in the diary build GUI -- before or beside the publish option? it might even present more tidily as a child window.

    and it would be really cool, if the feature were user sticky -- people do tend to write on the same topics.

    the downside is a general "normalized" list could become inefficient despite nesting and because of the temptation to accept new tags too quickly, no?

    it will be interesting to see how the tool develops :)
    thanks!

    by MarketTrustee on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 05:49:22 PM PDT

    •  oh poop. nevermind. just visited diskopedia

      on the topic :)

      by MarketTrustee on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 05:55:17 PM PDT

    •  Yes,

      and a "user sticky" (great phrase, thanks) set of options is part of the plan. There's no reason why someone primarily interested in environmental issues need have tag selection space taken up by subcontinental politics.

      by The Centerfielder on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 06:04:09 PM PDT

•  I like the tool....but

  I'm going to miss some of the more creative ones...like Shrubco, Bushco, etc.

  Thanks for all the work that goes into these projects and in making it easier to search....or just not get as lost while searching! ;^D

  by SallyCat on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 04:21:48 PM PDT

  •  I'm also going to miss

    the protest tags that sometimes spring up:

    "diaries with misleading titles"
    "repeat diaries"
    "diaries that should be delete"
    "what the hell is this doing on Kos?"
    etc.

    I'd like to see the tag editor, but I'd also like there to be an option for us to add our own tags -- especially since, every couple of weeks, an event occurs which there needs to be a new tag for (e.g. Katrina, the Foley scandal, Haggert, etc.).

    by lemming22 on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 04:26:58 PM PDT

    •  You can add protest tags

      This tool simply creates a tagstring with properly spelled, conforming tag. Once this tagstring is pasted into the diary entry page, you can add what you want.

      And there's no danger of proper tags for rapidly breaking events to go missing for long.

      by The Centerfielder on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 04:31:25 PM PDT

      •  "Protest Tags" are not generally useful and

        most get deleted.

        by SarahLee on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 07:57:00 PM PDT

        •  In the long term, no,

          but in the short term, they're funny as all hell -- and, occassionally, a way of saying something that really can't be effectively expressed by any other method.

          by lemming22 on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 04:39:14 AM PDT

  •  Well, we delete those anyway

    since tagging is supposed to be an indexing system and not a creative endeavor, artistic expressions in tags just mean more work for the cleanup crew.

    ============
    Make it easy for others to find your diaries by using tags from this  list of the most used tags.
    Help clean up tags via this list of quick cleanup jobs.
    DailyKos Tag Cleanup Project

    by SarahLee on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 07:54:16 PM PDT

    •  I agree

      but like I said in another comment, I think diaries will eventually have two types of tags: index tags, assigned or approved by a tag librarian team, and user tags, sort of like del.icio.us, where any user can assign any tag to any diary, but that tag is in their space. That's where protest and cutesy tags will go.

      by The Centerfielder on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 06:26:54 AM PDT

•  I corrected a 'Milllenium' today...

  ...but mostly I add tags (sorry) in my neverending search for teaching diaries.

  by rserven on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 04:30:41 PM PDT

•  Nice, but

  I selected "Condoleeza Rice" and it spit out "Conoleeza Rice".

  by RobLewis on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 04:49:57 PM PDT

  •  There are two 'z's, so they're both wrong.

    Centerfielder: Please consider my suggestion of removing all one-offs to a separate page. Write a subroutine that puts them on the regualr Tag page when a one-off is used a second time. This still won't prevent the common misspellings, but these can be caught up with eventually.

    I think you're preaching to the choir with your Tool. ZOnly the conscientious would use it, and we already make the effort to 'get it right', and by now know how to spell.

    I think, just as in a library, it will require a team of librarians to moderate tagging.

    by Halcyon on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 05:38:56 PM PDT

    •  ok

      Condi fixed. Sorry.

      Yes, I may be preaching to the choir with this thing. Mainly, I wanted to get some comments and release it out into the wild, no matter how unformed, hence the "prototype" designation. If there's something like this built into the diary entry page, though, then it becomes a lot more useful. (I hope.)

      I'll talk to ct about the tag page(s), and removing one-offs to a separate space.

      It's early in the process, but I think dkos 4 will have two tag domains. One will be "index tags" which will be assigned, or at least approved, by a team of tag librarians, and the second will be individual tags, assigned by individual users. I'm in the process of writing a paper proposing this, but this is the, uh, slow season for this type thing.

      Thanks, Halcyon, for all you do. You get a virtual hug from me.

      by The Centerfielder on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 06:00:42 PM PDT

•  I've seen this.

  Haven't tested it and might not be able to.

  I'm definitely for anything that makes selecting tags easier for those intimidated by it, but I'm equally against any systems that don't allow for spur of the moment tags.  They are in there own way a self definition of the community.

  And I'm for volunteer librarians.  I think it's one of the most fun and productive things a Trusted User can do.

  If I had one wish it would be that we could see who had been changing them and how.  You know, like in a dKosopedia or something.

  by ek hornbeck on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 07:31:32 PM PDT

  •  Are you sure...

    you want the 'Tags' tag in there?  That's for diaries about tags, not exactly a popular choice.

    by ek hornbeck on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 07:39:16 PM PDT

    •  it is for me

      by The Centerfielder on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 06:22:35 AM PDT