Writers and publishers of books had better take note, the Internet has changed forever how we get our information. Books and scientific journals still have a place in information transfer, but, the public and this includes those in universities, government and business, seek quick answers. What is the writer, editor, publisher to do? Use meta-tags like on the net. You still entitle the book with some stodgy words that appeal to your mentors back in college or your learned associates, but you add a subtitle that has a zinger to catch the attention of the crowd. Here's an example:
The book entitled Carnitine and Its Role in Medicine: From Function to Therapy, provides convincing evidence that carnitine is an essential dietary constituent in the very young and in several groups of adolescents and adults. It is not available in most libraries which is not altogether surprising since the title sounds quite technical. Yet, this is valuable information that should be more generally available to the scientific and medical communities and the general public as well.
The book can be obtained by an inter-library loan, but it seemed no library in Florida has a copy of the book. None of the public libraries, none of the universities and none of the medical schools. The book just didn't make their list of acquisitions. With diligence, the local library obtained a copy from the University of Houston which is not all that surprising seeing the major role the University has played in some recent significant medical innovations. And, here's another surprise. In the borrowed book was a list of when it has been checked out in the past. Only one other person has checked this book out since it was published and that was way back on April 20, 1996. How can this be? The answer is no meta-tags. The books title didn't raise awareness of the important information it contains and the authors, publishers and distributors simply didn't recognize the value of word recognition in marketing.
If they had entitled the book: "Aids, a Potential Cure! Or, Reye's Syndrome, is Carnitine the Answer? Diet, the Hidden Danger of Vegetables! You Don't Have to Have a Heart Attack!" the book would have been in great demand and flown off the shelves. Of course these are hardly the titles to describe a learned treatise on a metabolic end product that just happens to be a key to fat metabolism, stripping useful energy from carbohydrates, and an essential chemical in all muscle metabolism (which includes the heart). So, the editors missed an opportunity to reach a wider readership (and increase sales as well) by being unaware of meta-tags.
A better title for the book would have been: Carnitine; Progress in Aids, Reye's Syndrome, Diet and Ischemia Treatment. Now every search engine would have picked up the book. Carnitine may not catch their eye but "progress" is a timeless feature so the book doesn't age. Then the buzz words of major health concerns draw the reader's attention.
Meta-tags are much like the subliminal advertisements that once were said to be included in films and television programs. No one proved that they were there or were not, but some firmly believed there was an anti-Christ movement placed within the ads and in addition to putative (love that word; avoids using assumed, which everyone understands) backward recording were seen as a danger to the viewing public. Well, the programing has become more blatant and it isn't necessary to obscure messages since it is there for all to see in today's "entertainment". Nevertheless, use of tags in the advertisements can attract the audience to a product and the good news is that the public doesn't even know that it has been netted.
Ignore this advice and advertisers, Internet web-page designers and publishers will be found sitting on an inventory of products, and if they strain, will be able to hear; one hand clapping.
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Back in the olden days (see William Strunk's book, The Elements of Style), the lead sentence in a paragraph would provide the reader with an encapsulation of what was to be found in the thought that made up the paragraph. This is just another way of introducing a meta-tag for attention gathering. Of course the word-weary student quickly picked up on this methodology and just read the first sentence or at least a part of the first sentence and got a condensed version of the material. This is a bit like using Classic Comics as the source for a report on Don Quixote or the like.
If this essay has been properly structured, one should be able to go back to the beginning, rewrite the first sentence of each paragraph and voila! A summary.
Here it is result - The Sound of One Hand Clapping
Writers and publishers of books had better take note, the Internet has changed
forever how we get our information.
Having just read a book entitled Carnitine and Its
Role in Medicine: From Function to Therapy, I was impressed by the breadth the
editors went to provide convincing evidence that carnitine is an essential
dietary constituent in the very young and in several groups of adolescence and
adults.
Since this was an intra-library loan by way of the public library, it had to
be borrowed.
If they had entitled the book: "Aids, a Potential Cure! Or, Reye's Syndrome,
is Carnitine the
Answer? Diet, the Hidden Danger of Vegetables! You Don't Have to Have a
Heart Attack!" the book would have flown off the shelves.
A better title for the book would have been: Carnitine; Progress in Aids,
Reye's Syndrome, Diet and Ischemia Treatment.
Meta-tags are much like the subliminal advertisements that once were said to
be included in films and television programs.
Ignore this advice advertisers, web-page designers and publishers will be
sitting on an inventory of unsold products and if they strain, will be able to
hear; one hand clapping.
****
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