November 30, 2010 – Google’s new news meta tagging scheme is being questioned by some. Though they appreciate the intent to distinguish between syndicated and non-syndicated content, they worry that the meta tags will increase tag clunkiness and are likely to be used to work the web.
MediaShift Idea Lab on the PBS website is where we found this interesting article, “Google News Meta Tags Fail to Give Credit Where Credit Is Due.” The author is concerned that people will try to bump up website search engine results by adding the original source meta tag. But what exactly is an original source? If the concept of original sources is stretched too freely, the tags become useless, or worse.
The author points out that there are a number of things Google should do if it is serious about encouraging better sourcing and wants to create a system that works and is sustainable. One of those is to work out how to link its scheme to existing methodologies — not just hNews but linked data and other meta tagging methods. Read the complete article for the rest.
Of course, Access Innovations sees the importance of meta tagging appropriately and with a solid ontology to support it.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
