Method and system for associating text and segments within multi-tagged literature by application of metadata

Abstract

A method and system are presented whereby the metadata describing segments of digitized text and the descriptors thereof may be inserted into the digitized text and edited by a human editor. The metadata may optionally describe the relationships between human-generated segments of a source text and the tags used to describe aspects of the segments, wherein the tags may describe narrative themes, places, characters, etc., and/or the relationships between the segments of text, the tags describing the segments of text, and data structures used to compare relationships between the tags on various segments of text (“nodes”). When the text segments, the narrative tags and/or the nodes are edited, the associated metadata is adjusted accordingly.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 entering a source digitized text into a memory of an information technology system;   delineating the source by an editor into a plurality of segments (“segments”);   associating by an editor each segment of the segments with at least one navigation tag of a plurality of navigation tags;   separately associating by an editor each node of a plurality nodes with at least one segment of the segments; and   generating a metadata, the metadata specifying at least one segment of the segments and at least one association of at least one navigation tags of the plurality of navigation tags with the at least one segment.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the metadata further comprises specifying in the metadata a first plurality of the segments and associations of navigation tags of the plurality of navigation tags with at least one segment. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein generating the metadata further comprises specifying in the metadata a plurality of associations of the navigation tags of the plurality of navigation tags with the first plurality of the segments. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the metadata further comprises specifying in the metadata at least one node of the plurality nodes. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein generating the metadata further comprises specifying in the metadata at least one association of at least one navigation tag of the plurality of navigation tags with the at least one node. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein generating the metadata further comprises specifying in the metadata a first plurality of the segments and associations of navigation tags of the plurality of navigation tags with the at least one segment. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein generating the metadata further comprises specifying in the metadata a plurality of associations of the navigation tags of the plurality of navigation tags with the first plurality of the segments. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a digitized information (“new segment”) to the information technology system;   associating the new segment by the editor with at least one navigation tag of the plurality of navigation tags (“assigned tag”); and   revising the metadata to specify the new segment and the assigned tag.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising revising the metadata to indicate the association of the new segment with the assigned tag. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising revising the metadata to specify an additional association of the new segment with a second navigation tag of the plurality of navigation tags. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising the editor revising the metadata to associate at least one node of the plurality nodes with the new segment. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the editor revising the metadata to associate a second one node of the plurality nodes with the new segment. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the new segment includes text data. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the new segment includes visual image data. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the new segment includes audio data. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 selecting a segment (“revised segment”) of the segments; and   revising the metadata to newly specify an association of the revised segment and at least one navigation tag of the plurality of navigation tags.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the editor specifies at least one navigation tag for association with the revised segment. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 the editor designating a new navigation tag (“new tag”);   selecting a segment (“selected segment”) of the segments; and   revising the metadata to newly specify an association of the selected segment with the new tag.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 the editor designating a new node (“new node”);   selecting a segment (“selected segment”) of the segments; and   revising the metadata to newly specify an association of the selected segment with the new node.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 the editor designating a new navigation tag (“new tag”); and   revising the metadata to newly specify an association of the selected segment with the new tag.