[Web4lib] Lists versus Tags design idiom

[Walker, David]

> lists - less powerful.
 
Funny, I was thinking just the opposite. :-)
 
In its basic form, I would agree, Tim, that the list idiom is a bit more rigid and limited than tags.  But I think the list metaphor can be more easily adapted to more complex organizational tasks.  
 
A site could, for example, allow users to further group items within their list into sections and subsection, or order items within the list.  Likewise, the idea of making a list private or limited to a certain group seems conceptually better than doing the same for tags.
 
I also think that faculty and students probably have different motivations for tagging and sharing articles for their research and assignments than people doing the same for leisure reading on Amazon or LibraryThing.  
 
I could see faculty, for example, wanting the kind of complex organizational functions I mentioned above in order to create a reading list for their course.  Students probably would just want an easy way to separate their 'History 301' articles from their 'Biology 200' articles -- and would probably tag them as such -- with no intention of sharing those with anyone.  So I think we have to take our audience into consideration here.
 
--Dave
 
-------------------
David Walker
Library Web Services Manager
California State University
http://xerxes.calstate.edu

________________________________

From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Tim Spalding
Sent: Mon 3/24/2008 11:13 AM
To: Roy Tennant
Cc: web4lib
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Lists versus Tags design idiom



I think that qualifies as a library site. Maybe either you or he meant
the opposite?

I think it's an open question whether in-library tagging can be made
to work. I don't see PennTags as proving that at all. Most of the
benefits of tagging require and all of the problems are much reduced
by pure scale, and PennTags has never achieved that. I wonder if
lists-less powerful but more readily understood by many-might be
better.

Roy, how have lists on WorldCat gone? I haven't seen much mention of
them since they debuted.

David, How do you see Del.icio.us? That seems like search, save and
tag to me. It's not all on one contained service, of course.

Tim

On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 1:39 PM, Roy Tennant <tennantr at oclc.org> wrote:
> Sure thing, PennTags:
>
>  http://tags.library.upenn.edu/
>
>  Roy
>
>
>
>
>  On 3/24/08 10:15 AM, "Walker, David" <dwalker at calstate.edu> wrote:
>
>  > Hey All,
>  >
>  > I have a metasearch application [1] with a 'save record' feature.  Right now,
>  > I'm working on giving our users a mechanism to organize those saved records.
>  >
>  > I'm leaning towards using a tagging idiom in the interface [2], but have some
>  > lingering doubts. I've noticed, for example, that tagging is most often
>  > implemented for sites in which the user *generates* the content (e.g., blogs,
>  > flickr).  While sites that allow you to search and save records usually employ
>  > a list metaphor (e.g., amazon [3], istockphoto).
>  >
>  > Anyone have a good example of a (non-library) site that allows you to search
>  > and save things, and then *tag* them?
>  >
>  > --Dave
>  >
>  > [1] http://xerxes.calstate.edu <http://xerxes.calstate.edu>
>  > [2] mock-up: http://walkertr.csusm.edu/download/saved-records.jpg
>  > <http://walkertr.csusm.edu/download/saved-records.jpg>
>  > [3] Amazon apparently has a tagging mechanism, too, but it's rather (to me)
>  > obscurely implemented.
>  >
>  > -------------------
>  > David Walker
>  > Library Web Services Manager
>  > California State University
>  > http://xerxes.calstate.edu <http://xerxes.calstate.edu>
>  >
>  >
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>
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