> Is this just about the phrase used? Should it say "See also" instead of "did you mean"? Or can anyone think of another phrase that could be used to label the (legitimately useful, I think?) functionality without being odd?
I think these problems are inherent in controlled vocabulary, and to
the extent that users are used to the idea of *telling* search engines
what they want, *being told* that what they want is wrong will irk and
confuse people.
Take "Nat Turner" or his rebellion. Use the UFL catalog and you're
asked "Did you mean the Southampton Insurrection?" I'd say "Well, no,
I didn't *mean* that. I meant Nat Turner. *You* mean it, and you want
me to mean it too, because your mental model of the world is smaller
than mine, and you need me to think like you."
I'm not sure how to solve it. I might take the top X subjects and put
them at the top as topics that may be of interest, or something. Or
you could take true equivalencies and silently redirect after
click—"Redirected from Partial Birth Abortion" like Google does.
Incidentally, I think it was a righteous piece or programming, and
could prove useful. I just think it exposes the problems of the
underlying data.
Tim
On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Jonathan Rochkind <rochkind_at_jhu.edu> wrote:
> ________________________________________
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Tim Spalding [tim_at_LIBRARYTHING.COM]
> Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 2:27 AM
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Leveraging Authority Data in Keyword Searches
>
> May I suggest there is something Orwellian about the phrase "did you
> mean?" when applied to politically-charged terms? It suggests to me
> not merely that resources can be found under a given heading, but that
> the searcher's own term is invalid and wrong.
>
> Many may feel comfortable delegitimizing "partial birth abortion" and
> "socialized medicine" but—to take a few examples from Sanford
> Berman—UFL still has two items with the LCSH "Yellow peril." 137 under
> "Jewish Question" and 2 under "Catholics as Scientists."
>
> So far, I haven't been able to make the catalog suggest I'm after
> information on the Yellow Peril, though, and indeed when I search for
> the phrase, it suggests I mean "Walleye (Fish)." Are you mining your
> own subject headings or doing it against a list of currently-approved
> ones?
>
> Tim
>
> On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 5:52 PM, Simpson,Elizabeth Yager
> <betsys_at_uflib.ufl.edu> wrote:
>> The State University Libraries of Florida are using an Endeca catalog - http://uf.catalog.fcla.edu/uf.jsp . Recently, we implemented a "Did you mean ... " link for title, author and subject keyword searches. The system searches the user's term in the authority tables and if there's a cross-ref match, it displays a "Did you mean ... " for the authorized term. Instead of populating the user's search results with hits based on the authorized term, the system allows the user to click and do a new search if desired.
>
--
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Received on Mon May 04 2009 - 11:01:08 EDT