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Social Tagging and Folksonomies
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What are tags?
Keywords or terms associated with or assigned to a piece of information
They enable keyword-based classification and search of information
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Basic Model for Tagging Systems
USER
TAGS
RESOURCES
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Don’t confuse tags with keywords or full-text searching
Keywords are behind the scenes, tags are often visibly aggregated for use and browsing
Keywords can not be hyper-linked Keywords imply searching, tags imply linking It’s more about connecting items rather than
categorizing them.
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Tags can be…
Descriptions of the subject matter Where the item is located The intended use of the item Individual Different people have different tagging
patterns Tagging systems encourage differences
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Tags are
Non-hierarchical A way to create links between items by the
creation of sets of objects A means of connecting with others interested
in the same things
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Tagging Systems Define
Who can tag What can be tagged What kinds of tags can be used
Tagging systems may result in the creation of a “folksonomy”
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Types of Tagging Systems
Managing personal information Social bookmarking Collecting and sharing digital objects Improving the e-commerce experience
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Why is tagging so popular?
It is easy and enjoyable It has a low cognitive cost It is quick to do It provides self and social feedback
immediately
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What is a folksonomy? Folksonomy refers to an “emergent, grassroots
taxonomy” An aggregate collections of tags A bottom-up categorical structure development An emergent thesaurus
According to Wikipedia: A folksonomy is the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content. In contrast to traditional subject indexing, metadata is generated not only by experts but also by creators and consumers of the content. Usually, freely chosen keywords are used instead of a controlled vocabulary
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What makes folksonomies popular?
Their dynamic nature works well with dynamic resources
They’re personal They lower barriers to cooperation
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Strengths of folksonomies
Cost-effective way to organize Internet. Social benefits. It’s inclusive. For many environments, they work well.
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Weaknesses of folksonomies They do not yield the level of clarity that controlled vocabularies do. Term ambiguity – words with multiple meanings No synonym control. Singular and plural forms create redundant headings No guidelines for the use of compound headings, punctuation,
word order No scope notes and no cross references How does wrong information impact retrieval Conflicting cultural norms Sometimes authority counts