There are some technical terms that, despite how many articles I read about them, I can never quite get a clear definition of. Folksonomy was one of those terms, but now thanks to Golder and Huberman's article Usage Patterns of Collaborative Tagging Systems I understand it. Folksonomy, a combination of folk and taxonomy. A taxonomy created by the common person, the everyday Jane. Ironically, the authors claim the article isn't about folksonomy at all, but I think the term helps me understand the concept of ontologies and tagging much better.
Not that tagging in itself is hard to understand. It's simply another way to search for things. This article points out some of the problems inherent in tagging, such as the fact that there is no authority, so it's more difficult to for Internet users to reach a consensus on a term. If a picture is tagged with "pumpkin" (it is almost Halloween, you know), a user might have difficulty finding it if they search for the plural "pumpkins." As the authors put it, "collective tagging...has the potential to exacerbate the problems associated with the fuzziness of linguistic and cognitive boundaries" (201). But tagging is also a great way to share knowledge, because more than likely someone will know more about a picture/blog/topic than you do.
Despite some of the problems with tagging, that is not what bothers me about it. Tagging is wonderful. But why, oh why, do the Internet gods have to confuse things by coming up with unusual terms for well-known practices? Tagging is nothing more than "labeling" things (actually, I just noticed that blogger calls its tags "labels"). Just as "podcasts" are nothing more than radio on the Internet. Just call things what they are, people! Okay, rant done. I really do love technology.
Oh, and like everyone else in the class, I am now completely addicted to the ESP Game. As someone mentioned, it is sometimes frustrating because you're wondering "how can my partner possibly NOT be coming up with the same words I am?" But it also makes you appreciate how different people's thought processes can be. I especially like the feature after the game that lets you see some of your partner's word choices; at that point, you're frustrated with yourself for not thinking of those obvious words. Another interesting observation: the most common tags (after mutual consensus) are either man, woman, or a color. Shows you how imaginative we all are.
5 days ago
