Writing > ASMP

What keywords should you create? That’s impossible for us to say. Everyone’s needs are different and what’s right for us may be terribly wrong for you.

A good keywording system takes time and thought and can not be constructed in haphazard fashion with expectations of great results. If you build keywords well, the result is faster, more fruitful file searches. Keywording is not so much for data entry as it is for searching later on.

Whether you call it cross referencing, keywording or indexing, there are two basic methods for choosing index words.

First, and probably most common though not always the best, is the open vocabulary. If you look at an image and use whatever words it inspires in the keywords, you're using an open vocabulary. One day you may cross reference an image as "ship, harbor". Entered on another day, you might have cross referenced the very same image as "boat, port". Later, when the search is on for this image, who knows what you’ll find or overlook because of inconsistencies in open vocabulary. Of course, you can look for all entries that contain harbor or port or anchorage or boat or ship or vessel, but this requires a vast patience or a good memory.

Using keywords with a controlled vocabulary, your selections for entering image keywords and, later for searching, are limited to a specific set of words. Try using an open vocabulary in searching for that image we mentioned above as an example. It’s hit or miss proposition. If you find no entry for "boat", you must keep looking, trying other words in your keywords. When you discover "ship", you select it and move on to the next word. Failing to find "port" or "anchorage" you keep digging among the terms available ’til you make a hit. "Harbor" turns up the image and you're on your way.

As you make entries in your closed vocabulary system, you should have the option to add a new keyword. If you fail to find a satisfactory keyword for an image, add a new one to fill the hole. This way the keywords build slowly and thoughtfully as need arises. You are spared the monstrous task of building an entire keywording system before you know what you might need.

Suppose your files have lots of animal images. Start with a general category, Animals or Nature or Wildlife. Now, let’s say you have lots of bears among your animals. Try a sub-category, Bear. Use yet another level for details to get down to the fine points, Brown, Grizzly, Kodiak, Polar… and so on. These details are hardly suitable for any other category or sub-category. See what we mean? Ok, let’s try again.

A category, Bird, could have sub-categories of types of birds, maybe Eagle is one. details for Eagle might be Bald, Golden and haliaeetus leucocephalus. If you’re tempted to include details like Flying, Egg, Hunting and such, remember, these details apply to many birds. Flying, Egg, Hunting and such might serve better as sub-categories.

For efficiency, use the most basic, generic terms, usually singular versus plural. Use terms that can absorb several others. Fuzzy logic is still stronger in humans than in computers. Reduce synonyms to the single most suitable word for a category or sub-category. This narrows rather than expands your search vocabulary list. For instance, here is a list of synonyms: precipitation, condensation, downpour, deluge, cloudburst, torrent, rainfall, shower, drizzle, sprinkle, monsoon, plus all their plurals. Rather than create a category, or even a sub-category for each and every one, use a broader term, such as Rain.

Limiting the number of choices increases the accuracy of new entries and expedites searches. In the next breath we say, “Don’t go overboard.” Don't be so extreme in avoiding new terms that you diminish coverage. A happy medium exists, but it's up to you to decide where it is.