Structure, Subjectivity, and Power: The Provisional Space of Libraries within the Social Tagging Movement Melissa Higgins, University of Denver

Virtual Symposium on Information & Technology in the Arts & Humanities

PRESENTATION – MELISSA HIGGINSStructure, subjectivity, and power: The provisional space of libraries within the social tagging movement

SPONSORED BY ASIS&T SIG-AH & SIG-VIS

HOSTED BY SJSU ASIS&T

Structure, Subjectivity, and Power: The Provisional Space of Libraries within the Social Tagging Movement Melissa Higgins, University of Denver

Social Tagging in Libraries

• Reasons libraries might adopt social tagging: Involving users in the process of description Creating more comprehensive descriptions Can often reflect actual user search strategies better Concern for “user experience” Often very useful in the context of Digital Collections

• However, there are some problems with social tagging: Tags are not always relevant Tags can often be redundant Or, they can be altogether incorrect

My Research Question

Flickr The National Library of IrelandTwo views of Davy Byrnes’ Pub in Dublin, Ireland

Flickr: Martello Tower at Sandycove

Title of photograph in Flickr: “Joyce’s Martello Tower”

NLI: Martello Tower at Sandycove

Flickr The National Library of Ireland

Structure of Description Creates Different Methods of Searching

The National Library of Ireland on the Commons: Trinity College Gate

Michel de Certeau: The Practice of Everyday Life (1984)

Strategies

• Producers• Has “proper” place (not

restricted by time)• Work according to laws,

rules, conventions• Designer

Tactics

• Consumers (but not passive)• Appropriation as a new

kind of production• Without defined place• Opportunistic• User

The Liminal Space of Libraries

Tactics of Individuals

Strategies of Institutions

ReferencesAlemu, G., Stevens, B., & Ross, P. (2012). Towards a conceptual framework for user-driven semantic metadata interoperability in digital libraries: A social constructivist approach. New Library World, 113(112), 38-54. doi: 10.1108103074801211199031.

De Certeau, M. (1984). The Practice of Everyday Life. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

Ding, Y., Jacob, E. K., Zhang, Z., Foo, S., Yan, E., George, N. L., & Guo, L. (2009). Perspectives on social tagging. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(12), 2388-2401. doi: 10.1002/asi.21190.

Hammond, T., Hannay,T., Lund, B., and Scott, J. (2005). Social bookmarking tools (l): A general review. D-lib Magazine, 11(4).

Schlesselman-Tarango, G. (2013). Searchable signatures: context and the struggle for recognition. Information Technology and Libraries, 32 (3), 5-19.

Virtual Symposium on Information & Technology in the Arts & Humanities

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