kindle app - xray question

foghat · 07-06-2014, 05:38 PM

Hi all,

I started noticing this happening a couple of kindle app versions ago - though. I suspect (hope) this is just coincidence. But, it seems now the xray functionality for the books I am reading is just giving a 'quote' from the book that contains the given person's name. I think it is usually just the first sentence in the book that contains said person's name.

Whereas in the past, the xray would give actual information about who the person was/is.

Does anyone know why there are these differences in implementation? I suspect it just has to do with the way things were setup for a given book?

jswinden · 07-07-2014, 11:58 AM

I never use X-Ray as it is never in the books I read. But you have to remember that X-Ray must be added by the book's author/designer/publisher. The person that adds the X-Ray files is also the one who decides what information is included. There might be some firmware X-Ray features, but I doubt it. So X-Ray from book to book varies as far as the info it contains. The Kindle app cannot just magically create this material, it has to rely on the author/designer/publisher added material.

tomsem · 07-08-2014, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

I never use X-Ray as it is never in the books I read. But you have to remember that X-Ray must be added by the book's author/designer/publisher. The person that adds the X-Ray files is also the one who decides what information is included. There might be some firmware X-Ray features, but I doubt it. So X-Ray from book to book varies as far as the info it contains. The Kindle app cannot just magically create this material, it has to rely on the author/designer/publisher added material.

For the most part xray information is pulled from wikipedia and shelfari.com (an Amazon company). Author/publisher may contribute material there, but it only required that someone do so. From all I've seen and heard, it appears to be mostly crowd sourced (i.e. not officially done by the author or publisher).

I don't know to what extent the process of pulling the information is automated or if it requires someone at Amazon to push a button or to curate it, or how often the xray information included with a book is updated. As you note, quality varies considerably from one book to another.

foghat · 07-08-2014, 09:19 AM

Yes, I know the book has to be xray enabled (otherwise the xray icon is greyed out) and that it is maintained by someone (author, shelfari, whomever).

What I am not understanding is why recently, when clicking on a name to xray, so many of my xray enabled books are just showing sentences from the book that contain the subjects name vs. an actual description of who the person is.

I wonder if this is some sort of new functionality that amazon has enabled for authors who want to enable xray, but are too lazy to do it properly.

07-06-2014, 05:38 PM	#1
foghat Evangelist Posts: 464 Karma: 1006520 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Alberta, Canada Device: Kindle PW3	kindle app - xray question Hi all, I started noticing this happening a couple of kindle app versions ago - though. I suspect (hope) this is just coincidence. But, it seems now the xray functionality for the books I am reading is just giving a 'quote' from the book that contains the given person's name. I think it is usually just the first sentence in the book that contains said person's name. Whereas in the past, the xray would give actual information about who the person was/is. Does anyone know why there are these differences in implementation? I suspect it just has to do with the way things were setup for a given book?

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07-07-2014, 11:58 AM	#2
jswinden Nameless Being	I never use X-Ray as it is never in the books I read. But you have to remember that X-Ray must be added by the book's author/designer/publisher. The person that adds the X-Ray files is also the one who decides what information is included. There might be some firmware X-Ray features, but I doubt it. So X-Ray from book to book varies as far as the info it contains. The Kindle app cannot just magically create this material, it has to rely on the author/designer/publisher added material.

07-08-2014, 09:19 AM	#4
foghat Evangelist Posts: 464 Karma: 1006520 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Alberta, Canada Device: Kindle PW3	Yes, I know the book has to be xray enabled (otherwise the xray icon is greyed out) and that it is maintained by someone (author, shelfari, whomever). What I am not understanding is why recently, when clicking on a name to xray, so many of my xray enabled books are just showing sentences from the book that contain the subjects name vs. an actual description of who the person is. I wonder if this is some sort of new functionality that amazon has enabled for authors who want to enable xray, but are too lazy to do it properly.