How to cite correctly

Question

Consider i have this bibtex:

@inproceedings{Ko:2011:SIW:2049536.2049545,
 author = {Ko, Eunjeong and Ju, Jin Sun and Kim, Eun Yi},
 title = {Situation-based indoor wayfinding system for the visually impaired},
 booktitle = {The proceedings of the 13th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility},
 series = {ASSETS '11},
 year = {2011},
 isbn = {978-1-4503-0920-2},
 location = {Dundee, Scotland, UK},
 pages = {35--42},
 numpages = {8},
 url = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2049536.2049545},
 doi = {10.1145/2049536.2049545},
 acmid = {2049545},
 publisher = {ACM},
 address = {New York, NY, USA},
 keywords = {2d color code, situation awareness, speeded-up robust feature (surf), visually impaired people, vocabulary tree., wayfinding system},
} 

(Taken from here: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2049536.2049545&coll=DL&dl=ACM&CFID=343070755&CFTOKEN=95221181 )

Can I simplify the name of the cite? like this:

@inproceedings{Ko11,        % Ko11 instead of Ko:2011:SIW:2049536.2049545
    ....

So I can simply do \cite{Ko11} ?

Answer 1

The general format for entries in bibtex files is:

@ENTRYTYPE{refkey,
....
}

where ... consists of keyword assignments such as author={Author, A. N.}, providing the actual data for the entry.

The refkey is a text string for identification of the entry in the bib file. It is exactly the string to be used when citing the entry, via \cite{refkey}, in your LaTeX file(s). This refkey string may consist of (ascii) alphabetic, numeric and some punctuation characters such as : and -. It should not contain a ,.

Subject to these limitations you may choose any string you wish. It is useful to make a memorable choice. Your LaTeX source will then be easier for you to read.

Large databases often provide non-user friendly refkeys that are automatically generated. These refkeys can and probably should be changed when including such entries in a personal database.

To conclude, your suggestion of changing your entry to

@inproceedings{Ko11,
 author = {Ko, Eunjeong and Ju, Jin Sun and Kim, Eun Yi},
 title = {Situation-based indoor wayfinding system for the visually impaired},
 booktitle = {The proceedings of the 13th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility},
 series = {ASSETS '11},
 year = {2011},
 isbn = {978-1-4503-0920-2},
 location = {Dundee, Scotland, UK},
 pages = {35--42},
 numpages = {8},
 url = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2049536.2049545},
 doi = {10.1145/2049536.2049545},
 acmid = {2049545},
 publisher = {ACM},
 address = {New York, NY, USA},
 keywords = {2d color code, situation awareness, speeded-up robust feature (surf), visually impaired people, vocabulary tree., wayfinding system},
}

and citing with

\cite{Ko11}

is a good idea and should be encouraged.

I personally use refkeys of the form

Ko-JK:indoor

with the last name of the first author followed by - and then initials of the last names of the other authors (if not too many) followed by : and one or two pertinent keywords from the title (separated by - if necessary). This is usually enough to remind me which article or book is being referred to.