February 1, 2011 – Recall, precision and relevance are factors that figure heavily in search, yet they are often missing from taxonomies. In the second of a four-part webinar series co-hosted by Access Innovations and the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), Margie Hlava will explore how search can potentially be improved by applying subject metadata and how taxonomies can be used on the front end or attached to records at the time they are created and loaded.

“Google search has strengths, but it can’t compete with the precision, recall, and expansion features of a thesaurus-powered search. Well-designed thesauri and intelligent tagging form the foundation for an expanding number of options available to searchers. Content owners are earning users’ praise and loyalty for effective search tools that retrieve a comprehensive set of relevant items in quick response to their queries. Content producers are pleased that their contributions are not buried by a volume of irrelevant returns. E-commerce operators get increased sales from really good search,” Hlava explained.

The four-part webinar series on taxonomy uses is exploring traditional uses of the taxonomy as well as new approaches incorporating web and search technologies to help users discover additional resources, make effective collaborations, and better use the mountains of information available to them. In addition to this webinar, scheduled Thursday, Feb. 3 from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, two additional webinars will take place on Feb. 10 and Feb. 17. The webinars are free for ASIS&T members and cost $49 per session for others. Online registrations are being accepted.

Melody K. Smith

Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.