Libraries and the Hive Mind Folksonomies & Tagging Ellyssa Kroski Metropolitan New York Library Council June 17, 2008

Tagging on the Web

Tag Pronunciation: t ăg Transitive verb : 1. To categorize content online. 2. To add descriptive keywords, categories, or labels to online objects for future retrieval or findability. Inflected forms: tag·ging , tags

Tag

Pronunciation: t ăg

Transitive verb :

1. To categorize content online.

2. To add descriptive keywords, categories, or labels to online objects for future retrieval or findability.

Inflected forms: tag·ging , tags

Motives For Future Retrieval Personal filing system Keywords to describe one bookmark out of 500 For Public Findability Blog Posts Photographs Videos

For Future Retrieval

Personal filing system

Keywords to describe one bookmark out of 500

For Public Findability

Blog Posts

Photographs

Videos

Basic Tagging Web 2.0 Participatory Web Read/Write Web One of the most basic ways that Web users can contribute to their own online experience DIY cataloging

Web 2.0

Participatory Web

Read/Write Web

One of the most basic ways that Web users can contribute to their own online experience

DIY cataloging

Tagging Websites Social Media Websites Flickr, YouTube Social Bookmarking Websites del.icio.us, CiteULike Listmakers and Social Cataloging Websites 43 Things, LibraryThing Blogs 75 million blogs Nearly all blogging software supports tagging

Social Media Websites

Flickr, YouTube

Social Bookmarking Websites

del.icio.us, CiteULike

Listmakers and Social Cataloging Websites

43 Things, LibraryThing

Blogs

75 million blogs

Nearly all blogging software supports tagging

del.icio.us

flickr

43 Things

blogs

Tag Cloud

My Tag Cloud

My Tags Everyone Else’s Tags + = A Folksonomy

How popular is tagging? 28% of online Americans have tagged content such as photos, news stories, or blog posts on the Web. (Pew Internet & American Life). As of Feb 2007, 35% of all blog posts or 230 million were tagged according to Technorati. LibraryThing has over 384,000 users who have created 32 million tags. Flickr users have created over 10 million tags.

28% of online Americans have tagged content such as photos, news stories, or blog posts on the Web. (Pew Internet & American Life).

As of Feb 2007, 35% of all blog posts or 230 million were tagged according to Technorati.

LibraryThing has over 384,000 users who have created 32 million tags.

Flickr users have created over 10 million tags.

Mainstream Tagging Major Media Websites New York Times Tag Cloud

Major Media Websites

New York Times

Tag Cloud

Mainstream Tagging Major Media Websites New York Times Tag Clouds Parenting Magazine Tag Clouds

Major Media Websites

New York Times

Tag Clouds

Parenting Magazine

Tag Clouds

Mainstream Tagging Major Media Websites New York Times Tag Clouds Parenting Magazine Tag Clouds New York Observer Tag Clouds Head Cloud

Major Media Websites

New York Times

Tag Clouds

Parenting Magazine

Tag Clouds

New York Observer

Tag Clouds

Head Cloud

User-Tagging & Major Media

User-Tagging & Major Media

Amazon User-Tagging

Amazon User-Tagging

Gmail “Labels”

Facebook Tagging

RSS Feeds for Tags

RSS Feeds for Tags

Tag Searches

Tag Searches

Tagging Tools

Tagging Tools

Enterprise Tagging Behind the Firewall Intranet Bookmarking Dogear IBM social bookmarking community 6,000 employees Over 100,000 bookmarks

Behind the Firewall

Intranet Bookmarking

Dogear

IBM social bookmarking community

6,000 employees

Over 100,000 bookmarks

Dogear

Dogear

Dogear

Library Tagging

Danbury Public Library

Ann Arbor District Library

Ann Arbor District Library

Vanderbilt University Library

Carl A. Pescosolido Library

Tag Clouds on Library Websites

Subject Area Tagging

Subject Area Tagging

PennTags Community for students, faculty, and staff of Upenn. Bookmarks may include any Web content, OPAC records, items from SFX menu, items from video catalog, e-resources. Users can make their bookmarks private or public. Over 800 users, 13,000 bookmarks

Community for students, faculty, and staff of Upenn.

Bookmarks may include any Web content, OPAC records, items from SFX menu, items from video catalog, e-resources.

Users can make their bookmarks private or public.

Over 800 users, 13,000 bookmarks

PennTags

MTagger

LibMarks

Tags for Subject Guides

Tags for Subject Guides

ALA2007

ALA2007

ALA2007

Class Tags

Class Tags

Advantages?

Complementary Navigation

Inclusiveness Lift Elevator

Lift

Elevator

Inclusiveness Newsagent News Stand News Newspapers

Newsagent

News Stand

News

Newspapers

Currency Instantaneous Results Changes and/or additions to the taxonomy are added to the whole as quickly as they are made by the individuals.

Instantaneous Results

Changes and/or additions to the taxonomy are added to the whole as quickly as they are made by the individuals.

Discovery Potential

Insight into User Behavior

Community The social nature of tagging engenders a sense of community. People have a common goal of cataloging their own information, but also sharing it with others. Offers a chance to view what people have tagged with a word, also how others categorized a particular resource. Involves the user and gets them invested in a website or brand.

The social nature of tagging engenders a sense of community.

People have a common goal of cataloging their own information, but also sharing it with others.

Offers a chance to view what people have tagged with a word, also how others categorized a particular resource.

Involves the user and gets them invested in a website or brand.

Low Cost Low/No Cost alternative to a traditional taxonomy for cataloging Web-based resources. Massive rate of publication online between mediums such as blogs, wikis, etc. make a controlled vocabulary impossible. Library of Congress collection consists of 130 million items. The blogosphere alone produces more than 1.3 million items in the form of new blog posts every day. Flickr has a million photos uploaded every day.

Low/No Cost alternative to a traditional taxonomy for cataloging Web-based resources.

Massive rate of publication online between mediums such as blogs, wikis, etc. make a controlled vocabulary impossible.

Library of Congress collection consists of 130 million items.

The blogosphere alone produces more than 1.3 million items in the form of new blog posts every day.

Flickr has a million photos uploaded every day.

Usability

Usability

Usability

Limitations?

Lack of Synonym Control

Lack of Hierarchy Folksonomies are flat, there are no parent-child relationships, no sub-categories. Makes for a less robust classification system than the traditional taxonomy. This limits the ability to add context to tags.

Folksonomies are flat, there are no parent-child relationships, no sub-categories.

Makes for a less robust classification system than the traditional taxonomy.

This limits the ability to add context to tags.

Lack of Precision Discovery Systems Folksonomies don’t have any hierarchical relationships, making searches less precise.

Discovery Systems

Folksonomies don’t have any hierarchical relationships, making searches less precise.

Lack of Recall Recall: the ability of a system to return all resources related to a topic. Because of lack of synonym control, a search of a folksonomy will not effect a complete results list because of the use of similar tags. A search for cat will usually not retrieve resources which have been tagged with kitten, feline, or tabby.

Recall: the ability of a system to return all resources related to a topic.

Because of lack of synonym control, a search of a folksonomy will not effect a complete results list because of the use of similar tags.

A search for cat will usually not retrieve resources which have been tagged with kitten, feline, or tabby.

Susceptible to Spam Because these systems are open, spammers and/or unethical users out to corrupt a system could propagate bad tags.

Because these systems are open, spammers and/or unethical users out to corrupt a system could propagate bad tags.

The Future of Tagging Tag Clusters Tag Bundles Faceted Tags

Tag Clusters & Synonym Control

Tag Bundles & Personal Hierarchy

Faceted Tagging & Hierarchy

Next Gen Tagging Geographic Metadata Mobile Metadata which enables interaction with the world around us 2 D Barcode Tags

Geographic Metadata

Mobile Metadata which enables interaction with the world around us

2 D Barcode Tags

Flickr’s GeoTagging

Socialight’s Mobile Metadata

Semapedia

http://winksite.com http:// semacode.com

Ellyssa Kroski [email_address] Blogs: http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian http://infotangle.blogsome.com http://www.slideshare.net/ellyssa