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. Evaluations
. . Navigation
. . Editing
. . Terms
. . Relationships
. . Import/export
. . Collaboration
. Summary
INF440: Introduction to Information Architecture
Assignment 3
Timothy Godfrey
Student no 11348115
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Editing features evaluation
Editing features include the capacity of the software to:
- support standard word processing features for fields in term records
- display a term's complete hierarchical context while editing a term
- move a term from one position in the hierarchy at the same time updating the modified relationships that result
- navigate to and select a related term from the edit screen without having to key in the name of the term
- seek confirmation before deleting a term
Term Tree 2000
The Dog's star rating: 
Unlike MultiTes and TCS-10, TermTree does not allow word processing of term records. To edit a term name requires the user to delete the term and enter a new one with the correct name. The hierarchical context of a term displays in the term pane, while editing is carried out in the relationship pane. Moving a term from one position to another in the hierarchy can be done either by editing term relationships or dragging and dropping the term onto another in the term pane. Terms inherit modifed relationships when they change position in the hierarchy. TermTree seeks confirmation before a term is deleted.
TermTree allows navigating to and selecting related terms rather than typing the name of a related term through the options available on each field header in the relationship pane.
MultiTes Pro
The Dog says: "Congratulations - it's a dogonomy!" 
The MultiTes term display edit screen allows standard editing functions such as deleting characters and cutting and pasting text from another application such as Word or a text editor.
The main screen for editing a term is the term display screen. The screen includes tabs for different functions: record details, multilevel hierarchy, 2-way hierarchy and the edit screen. The record details screen displays terms in their hierarchical context with all associated metadata. The edit screen allows editing of a term’s metadata, not including relationships, in an on screen form. The hierarchical context of terms can be viewed through the multilevel and two way display tabs.
Relationships are edited in the record details screen. When a term is modified or assigned a new level in the hierarchy, related terms inherit the new relationships of the modified term. The software seeks confirmation before a term is deleted.
The software includes a quick data entry function which allows the user to paste a number of terms and relationships from the clipboard, provided the terms meet some simple formatting requirements. If a related term in the import text file does not exist in the thesaurus, MultiTes adds the term automatically.
Because of the simplicity and ease of use of the editing interface, MutliTes is the preferred package for term editing features.
Webchoir TCS-10
The Dog's star rating:
Terms and their relationships are managed in TCS-10 through the edit screen which can be configured in user options to display all attributes of a term on one page, or on a series of tabbed pages. Through the one page editing feature it is possible to view and edit all the RT, UF and user defined relationships of a term but not the BT/NT relationships which are only displayed in system reports and in the tree display area.
Broad and narrow term relationships are edited by using “drag and drop” in the tree display. By dragging a term to a new position in the hierarchy, term relationships are automatically updated for reciprocal terms.
In the term editing screen it is possible to browse to RT terms instead of typing them directly. Other terms such as UF and categories must be typed in or selected from an authority list. It is possible to add an additional broader term descriptor to a term by selecting the additional broad term option using the right mouse options in the tree display. The software seeks confirmation before deletion of a term.
Although TCS-10 has a sophisticated range of user defined fields and options for data entry, the editing interface could create confusion for some users. The tree display area sits beside a node display, a read only display of the highlighted term and its attributes. BT/NT terms cannot be edited in the edit screen. To edit terms, the user must navigate back and forth between the tree display and the edit screen by selecting from right mouse options in the tree display. Despite its sophisticated features in other areas, TCS-10 loses to MuliTes in this part of the evaluation.
Some external sites
Software sites:
Term Tree 2000
MultiTes Pro
Taxonomy sites:
QUT Controlled vocabularies page
Guidelines and standards: