Harvey, I think you and Oleg are moving in the right direction, to solve
the keyword problem. Now I think we should list all our requirements,
and then try to come up with a solution that best fits all of them (or
as many as we can). I will try to compile the requirements that we have
discussed so far:
1. Must be able to tag any document (that has a URL)
1a. Must be able to tag immutable docs, PDFs, photos, audio recordings,
etc.
1b. Must be able to tag docs that are not in the J index (or any index).
Harvey's two-level redirect scheme fails this requirement.
1c. Must be able to tag documents that are not on the J software web pages.
1d. The tagging mechanism should index and tag documents down to
paragraphs, sub topics, chapters, pages, or other document divisions.
2. Users must be able to discover, understand, and operate the keyword
tagging process with minimal direction. Ideally, the tagging process
should be so intuitive that anyone, including web neophytes can do it ,
without reading any directions or explanations.
2a. Assuming a user finds a document by some means (Google, blind luck).
That user must then be able to immediately tag that document with
keywords, with zero knowledge of tagging mechanisms, URLs, or .wiki
editing. A user should not have to enter a URL, browse to an indexing
page, copy a link to that document, edit a wiki, or create a link to the
document, to tag the document.
2b.Tagging should be modal, and must be available all the time, once the
user enables the tagging process. Starting the tagging process should be
no more complex than clicking a button that says "start tagging"
2c. The tagging process should require no more than one click of the
mouse on a "keyword tag" link or button, while reading the document to
be tagged. The single click should launch a keyword entry dialog box
where the user can type the keywords he wants to add to the document.
Another click should remove the keyword entry box and go back to the
document.
3. The tagging mechanism should handle key phrases as well as key words.
Ease of use of the keyword entry is critical to getting people to tag
the documents. Oleg's plan to create a wiki page with links and keywords
is functionally possible, and would give a basic proof of concept.
However, the many steps, skills, and knowledge required to add a tag in
this scheme, will most likely scare off casual users and newbies. Yet
these are just the ones who should be doing most of the tagging. These
folks probably wouldn't take the time to learn how to edit a wiki, cut
and paste the document URL, enter the keywords in the right format
(which is most likely non-intuitive) , save the whole shebang, and test
to see if it works.
Any other requirements I missed?
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