Why use Machine Aided Indexing?

Users participating in a month-long demo session described a number of possible applications for the new MAI tool:

For authors and those users connected with publications groups or database creation, the use of the tool to quickly identify standardized indexing terms for documents was the main interest. In this context, the text-processing and thesaurus-display features are used together as an integrated indexing workstation. As was found by CASI's technical indexers, the use of MAI results in marked improvements in productivity and greater consistency in term selection.

Librarians and other users involved in database and web searching praised the potential of the MAI tool as an aid in identifying terms for search queries, thus aiding in the retrieval of documents.

Information analysts saw the tool as a means of providing quicklook concept-overviews of reports and other technical documents and web pages.

Finally, the MAI application incorporates a fully searchable version of the complete 17,800-term NASA Thesaurus--supporting word-search, browsing, and full hierarchical displays with over 3,900 definitions. In addition, since the web-based tool is centrally hosted, the Thesaurus data is always completely up-to-date--eliminating the need to consult supplements. These features make the MAI application the most user-friendly form of the NASA Thesaurus available to date.

Additional information: