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Metadata and search course
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This is
a learn-by-doing Web-based course that shows you how to use metadata
to enhance and complement Web search. Using texts, examples, worksheets,
and a Web-based Lab, you'll create a prototype metadata repository
and learn how to integrate it with a metadata-aware search engine.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
At the end of the course, you should be able to:
- create a metadata repository to enhance
a full text search engine;
- export an XML thesaurus file to allow users
to expand or refine searches;
- add a topic browse feature that uses rules
to select and rank the best documents for a category;
- configure search for both public and private
collections;
- decide how to manage document metadata.
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WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE
This course is designed for Web site publishers, content owners, knowledge
managers, technical writers, e-commerce managers, editors and others who
want to learn how to enhance and complement the full text search function.
We recommend an interdisciplinary team consisting of
a taxonomist, IT professional, and web site publisher take the course
together.
COURSE FORMAT
The course is conducted via teleconference,
e-mail, and the Web. A face-to-face introduction
is offered occasionally and can also be conducted on site.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
You'll need Internet access and a Web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer
4 or later, Netscape 5 or later). To get the most out of the Lab, we recommend
that you have access to a metadata-aware search engine such as Ultraseek.
COURSE OUTLINE
Section 1: The role of search in a business context
How search can enhance (and undermine) productivity.
Relationship of search and other navigation tools.
Section 2: Search architectures: pro and con
Comparison of different search functions, architectures,
and metadata approaches at the enterprise, business unit, and desktop
level.
Section 3: How to create and maintain metadata for
the search function
How to create a controlled vocabulary, thesaurus,
and topic hierarchy for use with search. How to use metadata, rules, and
collections to customize the search engine.
Section 4: How to use metadata to enhance search
How to provide topic search, cross-references (thesaurus
search), and A - Z index search. How to search both public and private
(restricted) collections. How to use a metadata repository to search external
collections (document archives, Web sites, and databases over which you
have no editorial control).
LAB ACTIVITIES
The Lab lets you see how your own metadata will
perform in a live search environment. For details see the Metadata
& Search Exercises.
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The course requires you to select a project
and gather Lab data for a real-world application. To save time,
most data can be imported via worksheets. The instructor will help
you select and define your project, assemble required data, and
assist you in using a private, passworded work area in the Web-based
Lab. Communication with the instructor is via phone and e-mail.
At the conclusion of the course, the instructor
will help you identify lessons learned. Your Lab data can be exported
as an Excel file. After exporting, it will be permanently deleted
from our server unless you arrange for long term hosting. You have
60 days to complete the Lab portion of the course. |
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Jean Graef is a "boundary spanner"
with an interdisciplinary background as a manager, entrepreneur, librarian,
programmer, and journalist. She has been developing and conducting seminars
on cutting edge information topics since the early 1980's.
DATE & TIME
You can start the Web course at any time and proceed at your own pace.
You do not have to wait for a class to form. Most people can complete
the course in three to six months. To minimize the time commitment without
compromising the educational experience, you can:
- take the course as an interdisciplinary team;
- narrow the scope of your Lab project;
- extract data from existing corporate systems when
possible;
- submit Lab data on worksheets for importing instead
of manually entering Lab data;
- build on data structures created in previous Montague
Institute courses.
INSTRUCTIONAL OPTIONS
This course can be taught by one of our
instructors on site at your facility or you can become licensed to teach
the course as a Montague Fellow in Knowledge Base
Publishing.
COST
For a team of three $8,250 (nonmembers), $7,500
for members of the Society of Knowledge Base Publishers).
Any team members who attend the face-to-face
workshop can apply the workshop fee to the cost of this course.
HOW TO REGISTER
Call (413) 367-0245 to request a pro forma invoice or provide a credit
card number (we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club,
and Discover). Payment must be received before your start date.
Created on November 29, 2002 | Updated on
July 21, 2006
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