Productized Features
We frequently develop features that are not always productized. There were several items that we at Provo Labs built for LDSMedia.com that were shelved and are not currently available online. I have been involved with using computers for gosple and scripture research for over 15 years and I have never seen some of these two items. These features were developed either at the request of Deseret Book or as part of our own R&D initiatives.
One of these is what we called Ranked Search. This is a relevancy ranked result of the scriptures after performing a search. The ranking is based on the number of times that a scripture is referenced or quoted in any of the collection of titles on LDSMedia.com. This feature is absolutely amazing in that the results to searches return the most cited scriptures. The alternative is to display the results in the canonical order that they appear in the scriptures. This way you find the results in Genesis or 1st Nephi first, instead of the most cited scriptures.
The example that I use to describe value of ranked scriptures is how my father in law used the LDS Collectors Library that I gave him for Christmas many years ago (I think it was 1998). He was a Bishop and was preparing a talk. I taught him how to do a search and he typed in the key words for his talk. The first 2 results were in Genesis. While they matched his search result they were obscure scriptures. I know that there were better scriptures for his topic that appeared later in the scriptures. He was pleased that he had 2 scriptures that he could use in his talk. I told him that there were better scriptures, but he felt that the ones that he had were good enough and he used them in his talk. If he had taken the results from a ranked search results he would have quoted a more pertient scripture.
Another tool that we have developed and shelved is a topical search aid. When you type in a word, the results from the 3,000+ topics are listed at the top of the word search results. These are pre-defiend topics, such as those listed in the "Topical Guide." Many of these topics don't have the search word even listed in the verse. If you search for the word "tithing" you will miss the words such as "tithe" or "offering" but they would be found in the topic "tithing." This is similar to the Google feature where you type in words and Google prompts you with something like "did you mean:?". This feature when combined with the ranked search really optimizes scripture study.
Another feature is a list of all matching scripture references. When you hover the mouse over the word, then the text of the scripture is displayed in a box over the scripure reference as fly-over text. This is a nifty feature, but was shelved because it doesn't conform to the directive that all results be printable. I think that we have learned from this and may use this in other applications.
One of these is what we called Ranked Search. This is a relevancy ranked result of the scriptures after performing a search. The ranking is based on the number of times that a scripture is referenced or quoted in any of the collection of titles on LDSMedia.com. This feature is absolutely amazing in that the results to searches return the most cited scriptures. The alternative is to display the results in the canonical order that they appear in the scriptures. This way you find the results in Genesis or 1st Nephi first, instead of the most cited scriptures.
The example that I use to describe value of ranked scriptures is how my father in law used the LDS Collectors Library that I gave him for Christmas many years ago (I think it was 1998). He was a Bishop and was preparing a talk. I taught him how to do a search and he typed in the key words for his talk. The first 2 results were in Genesis. While they matched his search result they were obscure scriptures. I know that there were better scriptures for his topic that appeared later in the scriptures. He was pleased that he had 2 scriptures that he could use in his talk. I told him that there were better scriptures, but he felt that the ones that he had were good enough and he used them in his talk. If he had taken the results from a ranked search results he would have quoted a more pertient scripture.
Another tool that we have developed and shelved is a topical search aid. When you type in a word, the results from the 3,000+ topics are listed at the top of the word search results. These are pre-defiend topics, such as those listed in the "Topical Guide." Many of these topics don't have the search word even listed in the verse. If you search for the word "tithing" you will miss the words such as "tithe" or "offering" but they would be found in the topic "tithing." This is similar to the Google feature where you type in words and Google prompts you with something like "did you mean:
Another feature is a list of all matching scripture references. When you hover the mouse over the word, then the text of the scripture is displayed in a box over the scripure reference as fly-over text. This is a nifty feature, but was shelved because it doesn't conform to the directive that all results be printable. I think that we have learned from this and may use this in other applications.
posted by David at 12:42 PM
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