Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Tagging makes the Times: Folksonomy & del.icio.us tagged as important
'Folksonomy' Carries Classifieds Beyond SWF and 'For Sale' - New York Times
The New York Times is recognizing the significance of the latest online fad: tagging. The article describes three important tagging phenomena: del.icio.us, 43things.com, and PledgeBank. All of these are forms of the "new user-classified information structure." A social networking of keyword tags for different purposes. The NYT article describes the activities of one del.icio.us power user Thomas Vander Wal, a web production manager who is credited with coining the term "folksonomy":
These user-classified information services are making it possible for professionals to cope with the massive overload of information that the web pours into our computers every second. Efficient and creative information management can boost our intellectual productivity and keep us from drowning in meaningless data.
See also Wired's article "Folksonomies Tap People Power" from February 2005.
The New York Times is recognizing the significance of the latest online fad: tagging. The article describes three important tagging phenomena: del.icio.us, 43things.com, and PledgeBank. All of these are forms of the "new user-classified information structure." A social networking of keyword tags for different purposes. The NYT article describes the activities of one del.icio.us power user Thomas Vander Wal, a web production manager who is credited with coining the term "folksonomy":
Mr. Vander Wal is passionate about this new user-classified information structure, so he closely follows the Web sites that others tag with the term "folksonomy" and related words. As any user can, he signed up to receive notifications when new bookmarks with this tag come in, and he estimated that he received 20 such messages a day.
Over time, Mr. Vander Wal has found himself following the bookmarking activities of specific users who share his interests. That is usually as far as the contacts go, but not always. Last January, a lively blog discussion led to an e-mail exchange among Mr. Vander Wal, David Smith and Michal Migurski, all folksonomy-focused del.icio.us users. Mr. Vander Wal met Mr. Migurski in person that month in San Francisco.
"It's difficult to explain to my wife what I'm doing, who these people are or how I've met them," he said. "But they're insanely helpful with the issues I'm interested in."
These user-classified information services are making it possible for professionals to cope with the massive overload of information that the web pours into our computers every second. Efficient and creative information management can boost our intellectual productivity and keep us from drowning in meaningless data.
See also Wired's article "Folksonomies Tap People Power" from February 2005.
