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What I'm missing in modern ebooks (like epub format) is more metadata. Who's talking (character data)? What emotional aspects does the scene have (angry, happy,

What I'm missing in modern ebooks (like epub format) is more metadata. Who's talking (character data)? What emotional aspects does the scene have (angry, happy, sad, in a hurry)? Where does the conversation take place (geodata)? I'd love to see at least: - character: ID, Name, Gender, Age - mood: ID, Name (Happy, Sad, Angry, ...) - place: ID, Name, Acoustic (Outside, Inside, Cave, ...) This could be prepared by the author, work as a glossary, enrich the whole ebook experience and also would be a great preparation to teach AI voices how to convert a book into an audiobook.

acabal 2y ago
TEI is something like that, but the amount of effort required to mark a book up like that would be astronomical.
- xondono 2y ago
  Starts to sound like the kind of task an AI could do reasonably well though
  - kec 2y ago
    If the goal of these tags are metadata for AI consumption, and the solution to generate them is “use an AI”… what is the point?
    - roskelld 2y ago
      Specialization I presume, so one produces the metadata that can be consumed by another. Also, the thing from the above post that stood out to me would be to act as a reminder for the reader. Not so much the location and emotion, but the character data. I've often found myself wondering who the character is that's appeared in a scene, forgetting that they previously appeared earlier.
hombre_fatal 2y ago
If it can be derived from the book text, then LLMs or reader can already derive it. If it can’t be derived from the book text, then it’s extra content that probably shouldn’t be there because it came from elsewhere.
huhkerrf 2y ago
What's the point of reading a book, then? The joy of reading fiction is to try to understand the humanity in the scene. I don't need the author to force feed me all of these details. I want to wrestle with the answers, to try to grasp what it might mean.
mjmas 2y ago
That sounds like you are asking for a play.
HexPhantom 2y ago
The challenge would be balancing that metadata richness without turning the book into a spreadsheet, but if done well (maybe opt-in layers or a toggle), it could really deepen the experience

acabal 2y ago

TEI is something like that, but the amount of effort required to mark a book up like that would be astronomical.

xondono 2y ago
Starts to sound like the kind of task an AI could do reasonably well though
- kec 2y ago
  If the goal of these tags are metadata for AI consumption, and the solution to generate them is “use an AI”… what is the point?
  - roskelld 2y ago
    Specialization I presume, so one produces the metadata that can be consumed by another. Also, the thing from the above post that stood out to me would be to act as a reminder for the reader. Not so much the location and emotion, but the character data. I've often found myself wondering who the character is that's appeared in a scene, forgetting that they previously appeared earlier.

hombre_fatal 2y ago

If it can be derived from the book text, then LLMs or reader can already derive it. If it can’t be derived from the book text, then it’s extra content that probably shouldn’t be there because it came from elsewhere.

huhkerrf 2y ago

What's the point of reading a book, then? The joy of reading fiction is to try to understand the humanity in the scene. I don't need the author to force feed me all of these details. I want to wrestle with the answers, to try to grasp what it might mean.

mjmas 2y ago

That sounds like you are asking for a play.

HexPhantom 2y ago

The challenge would be balancing that metadata richness without turning the book into a spreadsheet, but if done well (maybe opt-in layers or a toggle), it could really deepen the experience