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Card Sort

Build drag-and-drop card sorting interfaces in Potato for grouping, categorization, and information architecture tasks with closed or open sorting modes.

Card Sort

The card sort annotation schema provides a drag-and-drop interface for grouping items into categories. This schema is ideal for information architecture research, content categorization, and any task where annotators need to organize items into meaningful groups.

Overview

The card sort schema supports two modes:

  • Closed sort - Annotators drag cards into predefined groups
  • Open sort - Annotators create their own groups and name them

Cards are draggable elements that annotators arrange by dropping them into group containers, making the task intuitive and engaging.

Quick Start

yaml
annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: card_sort
    name: content_grouping
    description: Drag each card into the most appropriate group.
    mode: closed
    groups:
      - Positive
      - Negative
      - Neutral

Configuration Options

FieldTypeDefaultDescription
annotation_typestringRequiredMust be "card_sort"
namestringRequiredUnique identifier for this schema
descriptionstringRequiredInstructions displayed to annotators
modestringRequired"closed" (predefined groups) or "open" (annotator-created groups)
groupsarrayRequired (closed)List of group names for closed sort mode
items_fieldstring"items"Field in the data JSON containing the list of card items
allow_empty_groupsbooleantrueWhether groups can remain empty on submission
allow_multiplebooleanfalseWhether a card can be placed in multiple groups

Examples

Sentiment Sorting (Closed)

yaml
annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: card_sort
    name: sentiment_sort
    description: Sort each comment into the appropriate sentiment category.
    mode: closed
    groups:
      - Positive
      - Negative
      - Mixed
      - Off-topic
    allow_empty_groups: true

With sample data:

json
{
  "id": "batch_001",
  "items": [
    "Great product, love it!",
    "Terrible experience, never again.",
    "It was okay, some good and bad parts.",
    "Anyone know the weather today?"
  ]
}

Open Card Sort for Information Architecture

yaml
annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: card_sort
    name: ia_sort
    description: >
      Group these menu items into categories that make sense to you.
      Name each group with a descriptive label.
    mode: open
    items_field: "menu_items"
    allow_empty_groups: false

Multi-Label Grouping

yaml
annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: card_sort
    name: theme_sort
    description: >
      Sort each statement into relevant themes.
      A statement can belong to multiple themes.
    mode: closed
    groups:
      - Economy
      - Healthcare
      - Education
      - Environment
      - Security
    allow_multiple: true

Output Format

json
{
  "content_grouping": {
    "groups": {
      "Positive": ["Great product, love it!"],
      "Negative": ["Terrible experience, never again."],
      "Mixed": ["It was okay, some good and bad parts."],
      "Off-topic": ["Anyone know the weather today?"]
    }
  }
}

For open sort, group names are annotator-defined strings.

Best Practices

  1. Use closed sort for consistent results - predefined groups ensure comparable annotations across annotators
  2. Use open sort for exploratory research - when you want to discover how people naturally group items
  3. Keep card text short - long text on cards makes dragging awkward; use concise labels or excerpts
  4. Limit the number of cards - 15-30 cards per task is ideal; more than 40 becomes tedious
  5. Provide clear group labels - for closed sort, use unambiguous group names to reduce confusion

Further Reading

For implementation details, see the source documentation.