[Web4lib] del.icio.us tags and bookmarking sites -- WHY DO IT?

[Ross Singer]

Actually, I think the carrot is that it would get saved to some sort of 
bookmarking system, allowing the user to find it quickly in a list of 
/their/ things.  I agree that users probably won't just add data to our 
resources without it doing something for them in return (which is why 
it's not a terribly high priority to add "ratings" in our catalog for us).

-Ross.

Karen Harker wrote:

>The main potential I see is a mapping system whereby descriptive data actually entered by users is mapped to controlled vocabulary, thus enabling greater recall, although precision would suffer.  However, I really wonder how much our users would actually contribute directly to the description of resources.  A better system may be one which ties keywords entered by users to those resources chosen from the results list. But there are still flaws in that method.  
>
>I think it could prove to be a good data source to study how people describe things (topic, format, slang, proper nouns, broad, narrow, etc.).  
>
>
>
>Karen R. Harker, MLS
>UT Southwestern Medical Library
>5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
>Dallas, TX  75390-9049
>214-648-8946
>http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/library/
>
>  
>
>>>>"Drew, Bill" <drewwe at MORRISVILLE.EDU> 5/23/2005 9:13:45 AM >>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>I posted this to my blog this morning.   I would really like to know
>this stuff but I am having a hard time getting the importance of it from
>what I have read so far.
> 
>I may be missing the boat here but I do not really understand the
>significance given by Steven Cohen and others to del.icio.us tags,
>folksonomies, and bookmarking sites. Would someone please explain it to
>me?
>
>Del.icio.us tags and bookmarking sites are not yet reflected in any
>search engines that I know of. Until they are, how will they improve
>peoples ability to find information? I looked at del.icio.us and find it
>of no real value to me. If it is of potential value to me and to our
>students and faculty at Morrisville College, please tell me how in plain
>language. 
>
>Why should I care what tags someone puts on my website or blog? Are
>there any scientific studies of how people use tags?
>
>Are tags and bookmarking sites just a passing fad? 
> 
>Bill Drew
>drewwe at morrisville.edu 
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