Automated tagging that works on keywords can be very dangerous. I've just seen on an auto news website the news that Prudential has purchased two Hyundai investment trust units. Yep, that old chestnut. A search mechanism has grabbed the non-automotive story because of the word 'Hyundai'. The other classic tagging error that pops up from time to time is an aero engineering story from engineering unit 'Rolls Royce' - nothing whatsoever to do with the venerable luxury car maker that uses the same brand name and is now part of BMW. Mind you, my all time tagging-woe favourite is something I once saw in an automotive industry news feed from the mighty Reuters a few years back: "Rightists held in kebab stand attack". Pardon me? It was a story about an attack by right-wing skinheads on a Turkish kebab stand in Germany. But at the end of the item it mentioned - oddly - that the attack happened at a town, Eisenach, that is home to an Opel car plant. The word 'Opel' did it. Oops. Human checks still required!
28 Mar 2003 -
