Tagging

Definition

In the context of Web 2.0, Tagging means sticking keywords to something (a resource link, a web page, a picture, ...)

So called folksonomies are collections of tags.

Usage

Tagging is used in many social software applications.

E.g.

• to manage one's own digital artifacts and links
• to allow people to share links (social bookmarking) and artifacts.
• to link people with same interests
• to calulate recommendations for a product (e.g. like Amazon does with keywords describing books)

Why does it work

Firstly, it's easy for users and requires only two steps of cognitive processing (Sinha, 2005). In contrast, filling in metadata forms is time-consuming, boring and difficult.

Second, metadata are ridid and don't work in the real world. An object is not always either of type 1 or type 2, but can be both or in between.

Metrics and visualization techniques can put some "order" into a big "tag soup" (e.g. see tag clouds.

Discussion

• some people hate metadata (DSchneider does because it's too much work)
• some people hate tagging (DSchneider does because within large crowds some people may unintentionnally or intentionnally use wrong tags, and because it'is also some work.

Links

• Rashmi Sinha's blog entries on tagging

• Thinking about tagging and Web 2.0

Examples

• Mike Malloch's del.icio.us tags on social bookmarking (very useful)

References

• Farrell, Stephen and Tessa Lau, Fringe Contacts: People-Tagging for the Enterprise, WWW '2006 paper, PDF

• Sinha, Rashmi, (2005). A cognitive analysis of tagging, (or how the lower cognitive cost of tagging makes it popular), HTML

• Vuorikari, Riina (2005), Social networking software and e-portfolios foster digitallearning networks, Special Insight Reports, European Schoolnet. HTML

• Vuorikari, Riina (2005), Innovation Brief: Can personal digital knowledge artefact's managment and social networks enhance learning ? PDF