%0 Journal Article %1 citeulike:468899 %A Guy, Marieke %A Tonkin, Emma %D 2006 %J D-Lib Magazine %K Emma_Tonkin folksonomies tagging Marieke_Guy %N 1 %T Folksonomies: Tidying up Tags? %U http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january06/guy/01guy.html %V 12 %X A folksonomy is a type of distributed classification system. It is usually created by a group of individuals, typically the resource users. Users add tags to online items, such as images, videos, bookmarks and text. These tags are then shared and sometimes refined. A general review of social bookmarking tools, one popular use area of folksonomies, was given in the April edition of D-Lib 1. In the article the authors elaborate on the approach taken by social classification systems and the motivators behind tagging. They write, "...tags are just one kind of metadata and are not a replacement for formal classification systems such as Dublin Core, MODS, etc.... Rather, they are a supplemental means to organise information and order search results." In this article we look at what makes folksonomies work. We agree with the premise that tags are no replacement for formal systems, but we see this as being the core quality that makes folksonomy tagging so useful. We begin by looking at the issue of "sloppy tags", a problem to which critics of folksonomies are keen to allude, and ask if there are ways the folksonomy community could offset such problems and create systems that are conducive to searching, sorting and classifying. We then go on to question this "tidying up" approach and its underlying assumptions, highlighting issues surrounding removal of low-quality, redundant or nonsense metadata, and the potential risks of tidying too neatly and thereby losing the very openness that has made folksonomies so popular.

@article{citeulike:468899, abstract = {A folksonomy is a type of distributed classification system. It is usually created by a group of individuals, typically the resource users. Users add tags to online items, such as images, videos, bookmarks and text. These tags are then shared and sometimes refined. A general review of social bookmarking tools, one popular use area of folksonomies, was given in the April edition of D-Lib [1]. In the article the authors elaborate on the approach taken by social classification systems and the motivators behind tagging. They write, "...tags are just one kind of metadata and are not a replacement for formal classification systems such as Dublin Core, MODS, etc.... Rather, they are a supplemental means to organise information and order search results." In this article we look at what makes folksonomies work. We agree with the premise that tags are no replacement for formal systems, but we see this as being the core quality that makes folksonomy tagging so useful. We begin by looking at the issue of "sloppy tags", a problem to which critics of folksonomies are keen to allude, and ask if there are ways the folksonomy community could offset such problems and create systems that are conducive to searching, sorting and classifying. We then go on to question this "tidying up" approach and its underlying assumptions, highlighting issues surrounding removal of low-quality, redundant or nonsense metadata, and the potential risks of tidying too neatly and thereby losing the very openness that has made folksonomies so popular.}, added-at = {2007-01-08T10:37:24.000+0100}, author = {Guy, Marieke and Tonkin, Emma}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/26277281dd632380aa7c6412680773119/wcrosbie}, citeulike-article-id = {468899}, interhash = {535e0aea1bcbd7feb85a7495f284a589}, intrahash = {6277281dd632380aa7c6412680773119}, journal = {D-Lib Magazine}, keywords = {Emma_Tonkin folksonomies tagging Marieke_Guy}, number = 1, priority = {2}, timestamp = {2007-01-08T10:37:24.000+0100}, title = {Folksonomies: Tidying up Tags?}, url = {http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january06/guy/01guy.html}, volume = 12, year = 2006 }