[Digikam-users] Controlled vocabulary

[David Talmage]

On Tuesday, February 28, 2012 04:52:23 PM Mark Hayes wrote:
> ...
> One thing that I'm looking into a little more is proper keywording
> using a controlled vocabulary (see
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_vocabulary) to make sure that
> I use keywords that might help me sell photos at a later date (I
> wish!!) - or at least allow me to find them more easily later on.  The
> ...

Once upon a time, in my day job, I needed to know about ontology, which can be 
another name for "controlled vocabulary".  It's a fascinating subject.  Clay 
Shirky has a very interesting essay, "Ontology is Overrated" 
(http://www.shirky.com/writings/ontology_overrated.html) that is required 
reading for anyone interested in tagging and ontology.

Among the points of the essay: 

1. a controlled vocabulary works for small communities of specialists. The 
U.S. Library of Congress Subject Headings and the Diagnostic and Statistical 
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) are two good examples.  Yahoo tried to use 
a controlled vocabulary to index the web.  It failed.

2. tagging is better when the corpus is large, when amateurs are involved, 
when the catalogers are naive, when there is no authority.

If both you and your customers can use the IPTC system that John Bestevaar and 
John Stumbles wrote about, then do so.  Otherwise, tag your photos as 
descriptively as you can and don't worry about false positives in tag 
searches. Your clients will find what they need.

Best wishes,

David Talmage