Keyword Search Capability for TheNarrowPath

[Theophilus]

Is anyone else interested in being able to perform a keyword search of the radio program and the other mp3 files hosted on the TheNarrowPath? It would be nice if we could enter a tag or keyword and then see the results, possibly from the radio program, verse-by-verse teachings and the topical lectures. It would be nice if you could click on a link and then open the mp3 file to the location where that keyword is being discussed.

Maybe if there is enough interest this feature could be added.

This feature will help people find what they are looking for faster. Also, unless you spend some time on the site, you may not be aware of the depth of the resources that are available.

[Suzana]

It would be nice if we could enter a tag or keyword and then see the results, possibly from the radio program, verse-by-verse teachings and the topical lectures. It would be nice if you could click on a link and then open the mp3 file to the location where that keyword is being discussed.

Maybe if there is enough interest this feature could be added.

Is this something achievable, or wishful thinking?

I know of the written word search capability; I wouldn't have thought one could do it with sound files, but then my computer knowledge is fairly basic.

[darinhouston]

It would be nice if we could enter a tag or keyword and then see the results, possibly from the radio program, verse-by-verse teachings and the topical lectures. It would be nice if you could click on a link and then open the mp3 file to the location where that keyword is being discussed.

Maybe if there is enough interest this feature could be added.

Is this something achievable, or wishful thinking?

I know of the written word search capability; I wouldn't have thought one could do it with sound files, but then my computer knowledge is fairly basic.

That would be awesome, but I'm afraid it's a very challenging proposition.

There is a site that does this for podcasts (and no reason it couldn't also do lectures) (http://www.podscope.com) but I'm not sure how to get them to include TNP audio. I suspect all you have to do is subscribe and submit your site, but I've tried that so maybe they're not in business anymore. There's a competitor who offers the core searching capability, but I haven't looked at it in detail (http://www.everyzing.com/technology).

One step in the right direction would be if the producer could submit a text file along with the mp3 of the radio show that includes a list of callers, time stamps, and topics. That would be trivial to automate and include in the mp3 file itself so that mp3 players that recognize this "extra" data would have a "table of contents" of sorts to jump straight to a caller/topic. That information could then be searched. It would be time intensive, but if someone could do a summary of the calls that would be trivial to search and link to the mp3 file time stamp, too. Podscope seems a more passive solution.

[Theophilus]

One step in the right direction would be if the producer could submit a text file along with the mp3 of the radio show that includes a list of callers, time stamps, and topics. That would be trivial to automate and include in the mp3 file itself so that mp3 players that recognize this "extra" data would have a "table of contents" of sorts to jump straight to a caller/topic. That information could then be searched. It would be time intensive, but if someone could do a summary of the calls that would be trivial to search and link to the mp3 file time stamp, too. Podscope seems a more passive solution.

This is a good idea. If the calls are already being tracked and logged by the producer in electronic form, that information could be captured and packaged with the mp3 file. Maybe a "form" could be created to capture call information and store it in a database. Then any post processing could be performed on this data, like mp3 file enrichment.

The everyzing link above is also promising, but it appears to be a fee-based service (not sure). This may be acceptable, but if it isn't, a speech to text program could convert the audio file to a transcript that could be reviewed and marked-up for subsequent processing.

Is anyone aware of a contact who could investigate the feasability of these ideas?

[schoel]

Audio doctrine is doing what you are looking for, but with some differences.
It leverages the power of the listening audience to assist in the work, and it includes audio and text from other's besides Steve Gregg. Also, it isn't attempting to catalog every topic, just the ones that folks have found helpful.

[darinhouston]

Even if all we got was the time codes for each caller, we could create enhanced mp3s that would allow you to skip to the next caller at the click of a button.

[Theophilus]

One step in the right direction would be if the producer could submit a text file along with the mp3 of the radio show that includes a list of callers, time stamps, and topics. That would be trivial to automate and include in the mp3 file itself so that mp3 players that recognize this "extra" data would have a "table of contents" of sorts to jump straight to a caller/topic.

Being able to see what is on a radio program broadcast would be very helpful. The table of contents, if this could not be added to the mp3 file itself, would be helpful as accompanying descriptive text.

Imagine getting a book that only had a copyright date with no table of contents or index. That probably would discourage some people from looking further.

Maybe the webpage that contains the hyperlinks could be modified to allow users to post comments about the content. The first part of this area could be an outline or toc of the show, and then users could post comments about that. Or maybe link from there to this site.

[Theophilus]

Audio doctrine is doing what you are looking for, but with some differences.
It leverages the power of the listening audience to assist in the work, and it includes audio and text from other's besides Steve Gregg. Also, it isn't attempting to catalog every topic, just the ones that folks have found helpful.

Thanks, schoel. Audio doctrine is definitely a step in the right direction. That site could benefit from improved search capability also. At least on that site you can search for keywords using built-in search. The inclusion of all the audio files on a single page at first glance breaks with good UI design, but when viewed from the perspective of being able to search makes a lot of sense.

It would be nice to take the concept of a concordance for the written Word (thanks, Suzana) and apply that to other content too.

[christopher]

Hi Theophilus,

I'm the author/owner of audiodoctrine.com. I created it two years ago and it was one of the first Coldfusion applications I ever wrote. I agree with you that it could use some serious updating. I look at it now and almost laugh at it's clunkiness. I've often thought about creating searchable tags/keywords, etc. My knowledge of CF has greatly increased in the two years since I wrote it but unfortunately, the time I have to devote to updating it has greatly decreased. So I'm afraid it is what it is for now.

Audiodoctrine was basically my first crack at a concept similar to what you've described using a data-driven site to catalog and catagorize TNP calls as well as others so people could quickly find many short sound bites from many different commentators on the topic of their choice. And as Dave mentioned, the idea was to have users of the site upload sound bites from their favorite Christian speakers, radio hosts, etc. to build a vast and diverse repository of good solid biblical discussion.

I thought the idea was simple enough. However, although there were a few people who contributed greatly to creating and uploading the sound files (Robin, Peter, and Darin from this forum...thanks guys ), it didn't turn out to be enough people to keep it growing with new material. And I rarely have time these days to even listen to TNP let alone dissect the mp3's and upload the files. Also, of the many ministries I've contacted to get permission to use their sound bites on the site, most haven't even given me the time of day so the selection is very limited. I've thought several times about just pulling the site, but then I'll look at the traffic and realize that it is getting used, so maybe somebody is finding it useful and getting blessed by it.

you wrote:

The inclusion of all the audio files on a single page at first glance breaks with good UI design

You're probably right. But I tend to like long skinny lists because I hate waiting for pages to load and losing where I'm at.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. Hopefully in the not to distant future I'll get some time to implement some of those suggestions.

Lord bless.

[darinhouston]

Christopher, I enjoy having a place to put notable pieces and direct people to them rather than emailing them a large sound file. Thanks for the effort.