Tags, labels, bookmarks, which ever way you want to call it, categorize the vast web contents. They are something that netizens are obliged to do. Knowing about tagging will allow you to have a more enjoyable experience in searching for blog entries at technorati.com or photos at www.flickr.com.
However, this kind of layman categorization is very much different from the traditional classification system such as the Dewey Decimal System used in all libraries. With tagging, we no longer need to figure out the universal meaning and nature of the subject. We tag it by looking at what it means to us as an individual.
The new kind of individually- and group-arranged systems allow ordinary internet users to organize information on the net as David Weinberger said in an interview with the Pew Internet & American Life Project:
You may want to tag, say, a Stephen King story as “horror,” but maybe to me it’s “ghost story” and to a literature professor it’s “pop culture.” Tagging lets us organize the Net our way.
Weinberger also suggested that the tagging trend will spread rapidly. It will help realize the ultimate goal of knowledge management with its casual usage, avoiding tedious debates on meaning of words and terminologies.
One interesting thing, Weinberger suggested in his article “Tagging and What It Matters” is that tagging systems can create “folksonomies” which allows you to see what your search item means to the majority in the online community.
Akshay Java of UMBC Ebiquity Research Group said in the article “Tags’R’US”:
A folksonomy is a simple, yet effective way to organize information around yourself, be it blogs published, feeds read or a collection of family pictures. A tag cloud is a culmination of the context a person lives in.
By looking at their tag cloud, you can easily have a good understanding of what they do and what they are about.
Now, about my research topic: Hikikomori – Social or Cultural. After adding a few tags at my del.icio.us account and finding a few blog entries at technorati.com, I realized that the tagging system has opened up the door to other individuals who have the same interest with me. That is a leap forward from the usual Google search which could point me to contents from larger enterprise sites such as the wikipedia, newspapers or magazines.
1 Comment
March 8, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I’m afraid your assignment is two days late. Assignment 1 for MJ is due at noon on Tuesdays.