'distributed classification' is the latest euphemism I came across. I
personally prefer it, but then, folk seem to prefer the 'folksonomies'
tag, so we'll have to go with it ;-)
And that demonstrates perfectly the strength and weakness of the
tagging trend; via delicious and technorati, you can easily find out
what keyword people use *now* for something, even if you think the
choice of keyword is wrong, or is misapplied. It also has no control
for systematic or incidental abuse built-in.
Still, as a means of generating metadata, and of establishing and
maintaining community norms on what's significant, you probably can't
do better.
For a wide and thoughtful overview of the phenomenon from when it first
burst onto the blogosphere a few months ago, see
<http://weblog.burningbird.net/archives/2005/01/27/cheap-eats-at-the-
semantic-web-cafe/>
It's slightly more of a 'yes, but ...' angle
Wilbert
On 5 May 2005, at 15:06, George Macgregor wrote:
>> It's obviously all the rage - 'folksonomy' was word of the week in the
>> Observer in late February
>
> 'Ethno-classification' has also been word of the week too!
>
> If anyone is interested, a paper on folksonomies can be gleaned at:
> http://www.adammathes.com/academic/computer-mediated-communication/
> folksonom
> ies.html
>
> The author discusses the role of folksonomies in Del.icio.us and
> Flickr and
> essentially discusses the 'pros and cons'. It's quite an interesting
> paper,
> although I fear the author might be a little too 'pro' for my liking!
>
> George
>
> ----------------------------------------------
> George Macgregor,
> Centre for Digital Library Research (CDLR),
> Department of Computer & Information Sciences,
> University of Strathclyde, Livingstone Tower,
> 26 Richmond Street, Glasgow, UK, G1 1XH
> tel: +44 (0)141 548 4753
> web: http://cdlr.strath.ac.uk/
> --------------------------------------------
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The CETIS Metadata Special Interest Group [mailto:CETIS-
>> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rowin Young
>> Sent: 05 May 2005 14:53
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Do they mean metadata?!
>>
>> Great article :-)
>>
>> It's obviously all the rage - 'folksonomy' was word of the week in the
>> Observer in late February:
>> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1416936,00.html.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Rowin Young
>> CETIS Assessment SIG Coordinator
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: The CETIS Metadata Special Interest Group [mailto:CETIS-
>>> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lorna Campbell
>>> Sent: 05 May 2005 14:49
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Do they mean metadata?!
>>>
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> Thought you might find this recent rather breathless CNN article
>>> amusing.
>>>
>>> "Tagging' helps unclutter data
>>> Online search categorizes how humans label things
>>>
>>> Here's how we tend to organize our digital photos: We stick them into
>> a
>>> folder on our computer and label it "Hawaii trip," or whatever.
>>>
>>> Here's a new way: Forget folders or albums. Just "tag" the photos
>> based
>>> on what's actually in each frame.
>>>
>>> Now, extrapolate this concept to the ideas, images, videos -- and
>>> people -- you meet or wish to find online. If they're properly
>>> tagged,
>>> they're far easier to find.
>>>
>>> That's "tagging", and it's currently all the rage among the
>>> digerati...."
>>>
>>>
>> http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/05/03/social.tagging.ap/
>> index.html
>>>
>>> Perhaps we should change our name to the CETIS Tagging SIG? Thanks to
>>> Steve Griffin of IMS for the heads up!
>>>
>>> Bye
>>> Lorna
>>>
>>> PS Also interesting to note that this article refers to the the
>>> Internet as a digital repository.
>>> --
>>> Lorna M. Campbell
>>> Assistant Director, CETIS
>>> University of Strathclyde
>>> +44 (0)141 548 3072
>>> http://www.cetis.ac.uk/
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