I am really confused by the "Missing metadata" search on the Oxford OpenGuide: http://oxford.openguides.org/wiki/?action=show_missing_metadata
The search form says:
Metadata Type: [...select...] Metadata Value: ...... _Optional, eg 'pub' when metadata value is Category_ Exclude Locales: [] Exclude Categories: []
It's the Metadata Value field, and the note after it, that's confusing me. If the metadata *value* is "Category", where is it telling me that I can put (e.g.) 'pub'? If the metadata *type* is "Category", and I put 'pub' in the metadata *value* field, then that implies I'm searching for things which are missing the Category 'pub'... which doesn't sound very useful?
Sorry if I'm being dim here, but I don't think I can be the only one who'll be confused by this! (Indeed Owen says he doesn't get it either... so maybe it's just something that you need a bit more sleep to understand? ;-)
Jx
On Sun 15 Apr 2012, Janet McKnight janetmck@chiark.greenend.org.uk wrote:
If the metadata *type* is "Category", and I put 'pub' in the metadata *value* field, then that implies I'm searching for things which are missing the Category 'pub'... which doesn't sound very useful?
As far as I can tell from looking at the code, yes, this is what it does - it finds you everything that isn't in Category: Pub. I can't think of a reason to want to do this either, but if Nick Burch (who coded this feature) is still around, perhaps he could give us an example of a use case.
Kake
On Sun 15 Apr 2012, Kake kake@earth.li wrote:
As far as I can tell from looking at the code, yes, this is what it does - it finds you everything that isn't in Category: Pub. I can't think of a reason to want to do this either, but if Nick Burch (who coded this feature) is still around, perhaps he could give us an example of a use case.
That would be great. :-) Can I also give examples of the sorts of things I want to use the "missing metadata" search for, in case it's ever possible to add the necessary functionality?
Simple search:
* everything which is missing an X, for every value of X (at the moment I can find everything without a postcode but not everything without a web address -- seems a bit arbitrary unless there's something I'm missing about the way the database works?)
Two-faceted search (if that's what you call it):
* everything in category/locale X which is missing a Y, e.g. - everything in Locale:Donnington which is missing grid refs - everything in Locale:Rose_Hill which is missing a photo - everything in Category:Pubs which is missing a website - everything in Category:Cafes which is missing opening hours
That's about it -- I could come up with more complicated searches & probably use cases for them, but the above are the sorts of search that I find myself wanting to do *all the time*, when I have a small amount of time & I want to be able to create a clearly-defined mini-project eg "Let's see if I can get everything in Donnington grid-referenced" or "Let's see if I can google for websites/addresses/etc for all the cafes in the centre" or "I'm going to be in Locale X on Tuesday with half an hour to spare, which things still need photos?"
I should add that I know this sort of search isn't trivial & I am no good at writing them! So I don't mean to whinge about what's there, just to say that this is what I'd like if possible. Also, I would quite like a pony, kthx. :-)
Jx
On Sun 15 Apr 2012, Kake kake@earth.li wrote:
As far as I can tell from looking at the code, yes, this is what it does - it finds you everything that isn't in Category: Pub. I can't think of a reason to want to do this either, but if Nick Burch (who coded this feature) is still around, perhaps he could give us an example of a use case.
On Mon 16 Apr 2012, Janet McKnight janetmck@chiark.greenend.org.uk wrote:
That would be great. :-)
I should point out that I don't know if Nick _is_ still around! If not, perhaps Dom is still in touch with him (or indeed can remember discussion of this feature, though it's 6 years since it was implemented).
- everything which is missing an X, for every value of X (at the moment
I can find everything without a postcode but not everything without a web address -- seems a bit arbitrary unless there's something I'm missing about the way the database works?)
It seems a bit arbitrary to me too, and in fact you can munge the URL to do what you want, e.g. http://oxford.openguides.org/wiki/?action=show_missing_metadata&metadata...
so it's just a restriction of the interface. I don't know if that was on purpose.
- everything in category/locale X which is missing a Y, e.g.
- everything in Locale:Donnington which is missing grid refs
- everything in Locale:Rose_Hill which is missing a photo
- everything in Category:Pubs which is missing a website
- everything in Category:Cafes which is missing opening hours
Yes, these would be useful, as would be visualising the results on a map instead of as a list.
Do you think you could have a go at raising a ticket for these enhancements? bob recently did some much-needed triage on the bug database, which has made me much more likely to actually look at the reps there. If you don't already have a Trac account, there are instructions for registering here: http://dev.openguides.org/wiki/AboutThisTracInstall
Kake
On Mon 16 Apr 2012, Kake kake@earth.li wrote:
I should point out that I don't know if Nick _is_ still around!
AFAIK he is, for some values of "around"; dunno if he's on this list though!
- everything which is missing an X, for every value of X (at the moment
I can find everything without a postcode but not everything without a web address -- seems a bit arbitrary unless there's something I'm missing about the way the database works?)
It seems a bit arbitrary to me too, and in fact you can munge the URL to do what you want, e.g. http://oxford.openguides.org/wiki/?action=show_missing_metadata&metadata...
Ah, brilliant! In that case surely it would be easy to add the other things to the drop-down menu?
- everything in category/locale X which is missing a Y [...]
Do you think you could have a go at raising a ticket for these enhancements? bob recently did some much-needed triage on the bug database, which has made me much more likely to actually look at the reps there. If you don't already have a Trac account, there are instructions for registering here: http://dev.openguides.org/wiki/AboutThisTracInstall
I don't have an account AFAIR, so yes, I will a) register for a Trac account, and b) raise a ticket for each of these requests (as I think the first one is a minor fix & the second is a more significant change to the search functionality), when I get the tuits.
Thanks!
Jx
On Mon 16 Apr 2012, Janet McKnight janetmck@chiark.greenend.org.uk wrote:
Ah, brilliant! In that case surely it would be easy to add the other things to the drop-down menu?
Yep - I think that's all that needs doing in this case. I would do it in svn right this instant if I weren't in the middle of another change!
I don't have an account AFAIR, so yes, I will a) register for a Trac account, and b) raise a ticket for each of these requests (as I think the first one is a minor fix & the second is a more significant change to the search functionality), when I get the tuits.
Great - thank you!
Kake
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