BidC Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Would be nice to have other categories in the AIM such as 'politics', 'religion' and 'education' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 I don't think that these Categories have any actual purpose. Perhaps I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Nobody knows for sure, if they do then why don't Alamy tell us? When they were introduced with the new AIM the Instruction Manual said "Assign categories to your images. Alamy may use these in the future to point users to specific collections". It's been suggested anecdotally that they might be used internally by Alamy researchers, or that the data might be given to distributors. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 54 minutes ago, geogphotos said: I don't think that these Categories have any actual purpose. Perhaps I'm wrong. Alamy have always said that it helps their clients with searches .. I'm not sure how either, but there you go .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said: Nobody knows for sure, if they do then why don't Alamy tell us? They have said, from time to time on Twitter, that the categories help searches .... to be honest, I havent noticed, but then I don't have many images uploaded Edited August 28, 2019 by BidC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Over the years there have been quite a few things announced and introduced that haven't actually meant anything tangible. How much time have you got to spend on things that may or not be of any value? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 12 minutes ago, geogphotos said: Over the years there have been quite a few things announced and introduced that haven't actually meant anything tangible. How much time have you got to spend on things that may or not be of any value? Alamy often say it is of value. Doesnt take much time to choose a category .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Yeah... religion is always useful. I'm going to heaven, you're going to hell. Is there an emoji for that?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 1 hour ago, John Morrison said: Yeah... religion is always useful. I'm going to heaven, you're going to hell. Is there an emoji for that?... Close enough: wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 Well, thanks so much for all your enlightened comments. I hold firm the belief that categories are useful, if Alamy say they are .... Hope you all have a nice day as well ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 (edited) The Category for Agriculture has 3,197,094 images. Searching for agriculture and farming produces a total that is a little lower - 3,197,030. The higher ranked images in the Category do appear to have been selected, they seem 'better' than in the general search. So it could be that categories are a useful showcase for Alamy. It seems that images end up in the category just through having the appropriate tags. Edited August 29, 2019 by geogphotos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 12 hours ago, BidC said: Would be nice to have other categories in the AIM such as 'politics', 'religion' and 'education' I see that 'education' exists as an option within AIM but do not see it in the Category list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Yes, the 'Browse images by category' section has nothing to do with the Categories in AIM and this does inevitably introduce some confusion between the two: https://www.alamy.com/category.aspx There is another thread where others have suggested possible new categories, including 'Religion' in fact, so 'Politics', 'Culture', 'Environment'. I myself would like all of those and also to separate 'Industry' from 'Agriculture'. https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/11863-new-category/ It's also suggested that they could be brought in line with the list in 'Browse Images by Category', seems logical! As you say, those 'Categories' are a mixture of purely curated selections (less than 1000 results) and custom searches with what seems to be a custom or curated sort order. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 (edited) Interesting. I doubt that all the images selected by editors have been allocated to Categories in AIM by contributors. Edited August 29, 2019 by geogphotos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 42 minutes ago, geogphotos said: I doubt that all the images selected by editors have been allocated to Categories in AIM by contributors. Presumably when they were brought in with the new AIM you were invited to go back over your archive and enter them? I imagine that vast swathes of images uploaded before that date don't have them, and probably quite a large number after that date since they are 'optional', and particularly since there is no meaningful way of assessing how effective they are. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Thanks for your observations. I'd never thought about categories previously. It does seem like too much trouble unless Alamy makes it clear that there are benefits in participating. I can imagine that the system could be used to create a high quality exclusive collection but that would involve editing and costs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 10 hours ago, geogphotos said: I see that 'education' exists as an option within AIM but do not see it in the Category list. Ah - I didn't look there. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 9 hours ago, Harry Harrison said: Presumably when they were brought in with the new AIM you were invited to go back over your archive and enter them? I imagine that vast swathes of images uploaded before that date don't have them, and probably quite a large number after that date since they are 'optional', and particularly since there is no meaningful way of assessing how effective they are. I am confused now as Alamy has said that their clients have said (he said, she said, they said scenario) that the categories are useful ... Think I'll just carry on as I have been. To be honest, choosing categories takes less time than writing these responses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Retrocategorise 9451 images? I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 (edited) 29 minutes ago, BidC said: choosing categories takes less time than writing these responses Yes, not suggesting that you shouldn't choose categories, both of us have relatively few images compared to most, and all ours date from after 'Categories' were introduced. Alamy suggest that we should really try and select two. However you've suggested a potentially useful new category, as have others, (e.g. Religion, Environment, Culture, Agriculture, Industry etc.) so given that they haven't been implemented yet it rather suggests that images that might have gone in these are sitting uncomfortably in a less appropriate category, I certainly find that a lot. Couple this with the fact that we can't search on them in order to test whether they fit in with other similar images (as we could with keywords for example) then things start to get difficult. Neither can we see what categories an image has been put in so that we might learn from others. 'Location' is another optional field but that will display under the image if someone has entered it. Regrettably Alamy themselves give no instruction or examples so choosing the right category sometimes feels like that old childrens' game where you put a blindfold on and try and pin the tail on the donkey. Edited August 29, 2019 by Harry Harrison 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 2 hours ago, Harry Harrison said: Yes, not suggesting that you shouldn't choose categories, both of us have relatively few images compared to most, and all ours date from after 'Categories' were introduced. Alamy suggest that we should really try and select two. However you've suggested a potentially useful new category, as have others, (e.g. Religion, Environment, Culture, Agriculture, Industry etc.) so given that they haven't been implemented yet it rather suggests that images that might have gone in these are sitting uncomfortably in a less appropriate category, I certainly find that a lot. Couple this with the fact that we can't search on them in order to test whether they fit in with other similar images (as we could with keywords for example) then things start to get difficult. Neither can we see what categories an image has been put in so that we might learn from others. 'Location' is another optional field but that will display under the image if someone has entered it. Regrettably Alamy themselves give no instruction or examples so choosing the right category sometimes feels like that old childrens' game where you put a blindfold on and try and pin the tail on the donkey. Totally agree with all of that Harry. I did look yesterday to try and find the requests (by Alamy) that categories were used, but couldn't find it in Twitter, nor in the blog. The message has gone out a couple of times, but naturally I now can't find it (!). Maybe it will have to remain as another one of those mysteries, though I was hoping Alamy might see this thread and help me out ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 2 hours ago, spacecadet said: Retrocategorise 9451 images? I don't think so. No- I wouldn't do that either, but I am slowly going through my images now to check up on keywords and captions, so thought I may look at categories as well. From the conversation here I'd say the part probably isn't worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BidC Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 11 hours ago, geogphotos said: Thanks for your observations. I'd never thought about categories previously. It does seem like too much trouble unless Alamy makes it clear that there are benefits in participating. I can imagine that the system could be used to create a high quality exclusive collection but that would involve editing and costs. I've started to document the renovation of the old Horlicks factory in Slough (and hoping to continue), and it would be great to have a category into which that fitted. Maybe 'documentary' would also be useful as a category ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 If more categories, then maybe the option to select more than two (and failure to select a specific number not to affect 100% discoverability). Presently I often find it difficult to decide which two categories to select. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 (edited) Found myself wanting a category for 'Retail', a fairly common editorial subject which otherwise has to be 'Business'. Edited September 11, 2019 by Harry Harrison 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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