Lecture 16: Folksonomy and Tagging

Lecture 16: Folksonomy and Tagging

• 1.
  Lecture 15: Folksonomy Module 6 Dr. Jessica Laccetti
• 2.
  Outline • Key Ideas • Folksonomy and Thomas Vander Wal • Good and Bad Tag Clouds • General Rules • Homework
• 3.
  Key Ideas • Folksonomyas social activity • The erosion or at least blurring of hierarchies and oppositions • The impossibility of identity • What are some current views about the emergence and diffusion of media?
• 4.
  Folksonomy • Folksonomy isthe result of personal free tagging of information and objects (anything with a URL) for one's own retrieval. • The tagging is done in a social environment (usually shared and open to others). • Folksonomy is created from the act of tagging by the person consuming the information.
• 5.
  The "f-word" (asVander Wal puts it) allows "regular" folks to categorise or structure information in a way that is pertinent to them (i.e. personalised).
• 6.
  Folksonomy • As thename suggests, it's a taxonomy made by the folks – user generated definitions and information structures. • But folksonomy is just a part of a larger idea: tagging. • Tagging is the tying of words to objects. • Vander Wall explains that this method of tagging has less "cognitive load" for users because it’s about key words rather than some kind of overlying systemic planning • I see it more of a free–form way of categorising information – personalising it
• 7.
  Folksonomy • Folksonomy isa subset of tagging – identifying/categorising for personal use, “re– finding” information • This aspect of personalisation has important impacts for the business sector in that it allows businesses a view of their product from the customers' point of view. • Again, Vander Wal gives a funny example of how tagging can affect your product by showing a cd available on amazon.com (see here) and how it was tagged:
• 9.
  Folksonomy • You wouldn'twant your product labelled as "talentless" would you...? • So, with the help of folksonomy, businesses can move from their "top down" approach to a more open and realistic understanding of their product (or at least how it is perceived).
• 10.
  Folksonomy • People/users/taggers aremoving from employing tags as descriptors for solely personal use to, the other end of the spectrum, where tags seem to be jumping off points for dialogues and stories
• 11.
  Flickr and Folksonomy •Have you noticed on flickr how some photos start so many stories? • Tags: pebbles, rocks, flag: http://www.flickr.com/photos/omnia/90953407/ • Tags: moose, encounter: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesec/258467874/ • Tags: fall, leaves: • http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinthom/52759 426/
• 12.
  Visualising Information
• 13.
  Tag Cloud • Inan interview I was asked what makes a good tag cloud?
• 14.
  Bad Tag Cloud
• 15.
  Good Tag Cloud
• 16.
  General Rules • Forme, a good tag cloud makes information accessible to those who are interested in it. • Tag clouds with a gazillion different terms look "messy" to me. • Do NOT include spam in tag clouds - that just changes the whole positive participatory idea behind folksonomy. • Also, if taggers use a lot of similar words like: blogger, blog, blogging, blogs - that just adds to the mess. • Stick to uppercase or lowercase and decide whether you'll use singular or plural terms (blog or blogs? FirstName or firstname?)
• 17.
  Tagging • Is dynamic • Offers serendipity (not structure) • Reflects changing ideas • Changing communication
• 18.
  Flickr in 2007
• 19.
  Flickr 2012
• 20.
  Why Tag? • Access to information • Useful for sorting (according to the user) • Aggregation tool • Social communication
• 22.
  Activity • Go toWordle.net and click “create” • Open another tab and search for a job ad that you would like to apply for (now or eventually) • Copy the job ad and paste it into WORDLE • What are the key tags that appear • Has the tag cloud made certain elements of the position more clear? • Add your thoughts as a comment on today’s blog post
• 23.
  Homework • Create yourown Delicious login and bookmark two sites pertinent to this course. – Be sure to include the course tag: ALES204, and send to me using: for:ALES204. • Biba will guest lecture on Friday, be ready to send 3 critically literate tweets!