Before the annotation of the tdt corpus begins in earnest, we need to develop a preliminary list of topics from which we will select the core list of topics for further annotation.
   After reviewing the supplied lists of seed articles, initial topics will be developed based on the determination of an identifiable seminal event that is found in some of the aricles. Once the decision is made that an article may be used as the seed for a potential topic, the seed document will be used as a query against the entire collection of stories; one can determine relatively well the possibility of the respective 'coverage' of the event, and subsequent topical framework surrounding the event within the available stories.

Please note: You do NOT need to create a topic from each individual seed story in a list - indeed, please don't.
Select those seeds for development that you feel have:

- identifiable seminal event

- a 'reasonable' expectation that the event will be covered in the Mandarin, Arabic, and English language sources. There will be many stories that you may feel are too specific, and won't be covered - these should not be rejected out of hand, but please be cautious addressing stories that feel confident will only appear once. (most often human interest stories - boy loses dog in Montana, etc.)

- not too broad in scope, and you MUST be able to point to a seminal event.

There are three primary display windows that you will be interacting with, two netscape windows, and the primary topic selection GUI, which has several components.

1. browser window "Topic List"
       The evolving list of topics that have been identified by everyone working on this task. Everyone will be adding to this list. Please check this list to make sure that you are not repeating a topic that someone else has found. reload the list periodically to ensure that you are keeping up to date with new topics that are being added.
2. browser window view articles

Articles

Three fields empty field - 'seen' - 'reject'

These are all fairly self-explanatory, save the 'reject' condition. You can use this option if you run across seeds that are very problematic, for instance, seeds that are advertisements, book reviews, or the like.

Show Query Results

shows a ranked list of documents that are the result of submitting the current article from the seedlist into a search engine for the entire corpus.
- use this check to see if there is a possibilty that this can become a reasonable topic to explore further, judging on an estimate of how many related articles you find.

Resume later

If you are leaving and desire to continue working on the list when you return.

Mark as DONE

When you have completed reviewing the seeds on the list you are working on, and you wish to continue working on a new list - If you make an error and accidentally log out with this, just let one of the project managers know, and we'll reset it for you.

Add to Topic list

you will NOT be allowed to add a topic to the topic list until you enter information into each of these three fields, once these conditions have been satisfied, you can enter in a new topic.

title - self explanatory - minimum length eight characters
seminal event, - the specific event that you are identifying, indentifing the who, where, when, and what - minimum length 16 characters
topic description - a description in your own words describing the topic. Keep in mind that you will be working on a research page on this later, where you can expand on the information you would like to provide. - minimum length 32 characters

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Topic Selection Quick Checklist

1. Open netscape
2. run start-tdt4-mktopics
3. change encoding to simplified chinese (mandarin) - under 'view' toolbar
4. review seeds
   - potential topic identified?
   - establish seminal event
   - check topic list to ensure that no one has developed this topic
5. use seed document as query
6. examine ranked returns
7. okay coverage of potential event/topic?
8. have you developed better sense of the topic?
   yes --> develop topic
   - establish title
   - establish who, what, where, when of seminal event
   - create description in your own words about event, and topic, including additional information which you may decide is relevant.
   
   BEFORE you update the topic list -
9. refresh topic list window, re-check current list to re-establish that no one else has developed this topic.
10. - if not, update the topic list with your new entry. You can return to edit this topic at any time when you are working on the same seedlist to udate your topic description.
    
      after you have found 3 or 4 topics in seedlist start working on your topic research for the topics you have created.

    The goal of topic research is to be able to provide additional information about the event and the topic. It is useful to have enough information in the document so that an individual who is unfamiliar with the subject matter have access to the reference material without having to do all of the related research themselves. magine you're taking an exam on a particular TDT topic, and you're allowed to have one piece of paper with all the relevant information about that topic on it - that piece of paper is what we'd like to create with the topic research task.

1. The topic number and title
2. Your name
3. A summary of the event and related issues
4. A timeline (if applicable) of previous and subsequent topically related issues
5. A list of key individuals, organizations, and/or places
6. Links to additional information if necessary
7. Additional information that you may come across that may make the topic confusing - for instance, a very similar event - a disaster at the same location, but at a very different time period, that an individual at first glance would erroneously say is the same topic.
   
   Here are some examples of well-done topic research:

   3043. Sri Lankan Gov't vs. Tamil Rebels
   3044. Kurd Separatist Abdullah Ocalan Arrested
   3050. US Mid-Term Elections
   3055. D'Alema's New Italian Government
   3056. Chechnya Rebel Kidnapping and Beheading

   Topic research from TDT2
   Topic research from TDT3
   
   How do I find all this information about my topic?
   
   The first thing you should do is read the topic description and the on-topic articles chosen during the topic-selection process.  This will give you a very minimal foundation on the topic.
   
   After that, the web is a good resource for finding out more about your topic. Here are some sites to try:
   
   News Resource Collection created for TDT (a great place to start -- the news is sorted by information content)  
   
   

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       FAQ
   
   Q1) The topic list and the display of the articles is not consistent, and I lose my place, what should I do?
   A1) Press the button again - You will notice that the activated window is never the last one you have been looking at - if this really becomes a problem, though let us know.
   
   Q2) What if I run across a seed that I'm interested in developing as a topic, and find that someone else has developed a topic on it? Should I use the reject option?
   A2 ) There is no need to reject this seed, particularly since the topic lists are evolving with new topics all the time.
   
   Q3) I created a topic that I no longer feel is appropriate. What should I do?
   A3) Return to the seed in the list, and instead of updating the article with new information, REPLACE the information with placeholders. For instance, --- can replace your previous entries. (This must be done before the list can be refreshed.)