Product Review; Recommind Decisiv
Categorisation
Product Description;
The
creators of Decisiv claim their Automated
Classification
product is
able to search and categorise text from a range
of systems including intranets, websites, CRM application and
databases and file systems. Depending on the requirements of the
user, this software can be configured to associate and
tag content into categories such as topics, document
types, geographic locations and industries. As well as
categorising content according to user-defined rules, this software
is capable of classifying documents into existing taxonomies
and subject headings with all new or altered documents
automatically crawled and tagged.
(Recommind Website, 2011).
Product Features:
- Ability to categorise content into single or
multiple categories/taxonomies
- Automatically assigns labels and categories as
metadata to documents
- Ability to simultaneously categorise documents
using both automatic and rules based
modes.
- Supports multiple taxonomies, flat or
hierarchical
- Easy to import existing
taxonomies
- Reporting that identifies accuracy level by
category
- User friendly interface for easy management and
update of taxonomy structures
- Supports over 30 languages including English,
Spanish, German, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Korean,
Chinese, Arabic, and others
- Supports over 400 document formats and file
types including: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe, Word
Perfect, html, email attachments, and zip
files
- Integrates easily with any information source
including document management/records management systems,
portals, file systems, databases or web
sites
(Recommind Website, 2011).
Evaluation;
The Decisiv Categorisation software by
Recommind is an application that represents a new hybrid
approach to Automated
Classification
through its efforts to simultaneously apply user defined rules
as well as existing taxonomies to categorise information. It
offers solutions for large scale organisation with complex
information needs and promises to simplify and streamline the
flow of information. This software has the potential to
improve the overall structure and organisation of a website or
intranet by improving search/navigation functions through
careful categorisation and labelling of content. This is can
be seen by the fact that the Decisiv can support many types of
document formats, has the ability to work across a range of
information platforms including databases, websites and
portals and operates in over 30 languages. The use of metatags
and pre-existing taxonomies/ subject headings also allows for
greater interoperability with other information systems. It
maximises the potential for broad application with careful
attention to interface design and user friendly
navigation.
Like many Automated
Classification
tools on the market today, Decisiv
Categorisation is restricted by the fact that it is limited to
categorising textual documents with very little scope to
classify images and other forms of media. With increasing
amounts of digital content being described as non-print or
mixed media, this type of software can be seen as having
inconsistencies and therefore limited somewhat in its
applications (Pierre, 2000). Although the automation process
offers significant savings in time and resources, is also
limited by the fact that classification and labelling systems
can sometimes be seen as subjective with user-defined
categories in fact inhibiting the search process. The Decisiv
automated software enables categories to be configured to suit
the requirements of the organisation but still may not be
suitable for a broad range of applications. The use of this
tool to create sites for certain industries such as graphic
design for example may not be successful. In addition to
promises of ‘storing the data you need for business’, this
software also offers to ‘delete the rest automatically’ which
raises a number of concerns regarding preservation of content
and human error (Recommind Website, 2011).
References;
Pierre, J.M. (2000). Practical Issues
for automated categorization of web sites.
Retrieved 19 May, 2011, from
citeseer.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid...?doi=10.1.1.
Recommind Website (2011). Decisiv
Categorisation. Retrieved 19 May, 2011, from http://www.recommind.com/products/decisiv_content_categorization |