ALAO 2008 Conference1 Uncorking the Varietals: Social Tagging, Folksonomies & Controlled Vocabularies Margaret Maurer, Associate Professor Head, Catalog and Metadata Kent State University Libraries and Media Services

ALAO 2008 Conference2 In wine making - What is a varietal? A wine made from a single, named grape variety.  Cabernet Sauvignon wines are made from cabernet sauvignon grapes  Chardonnay wines are made from chardonnay grapes

ALAO 2008 Conference3 In information seeking … On the Web or in the catalog Access systems may be controlled by librarians–controlled vocabularies Access systems may be dynamically generated by users–social tagging, folksonomies These are different varieties of access systems

ALAO 2008 Conference4 Table of contents Controlled vocabularies Social Tagging Folksonomies My recommendations First we’ll talk about the cabernet sauvignons – the controlled vocabs

ALAO 2008 Conference5 Purpose of a controlled vocabulary To create sets of objects To serve as a bridge between the searcher’s language and the author’s language To provide consistency To improve precision and recall

ALAO 2008 Conference6 Controlled vocabularies Features a single, authorized form of heading Often features a syndetic structure of cross- references Based on belief that the successful use of the catalog is based on the quality of the individual records

ALAO 2008 Conference7 The authority record structure Records the standardized form Ensures the gathering together of records via that access point Enables standardized catalog records Documents decisions taken Records all other heading forms and provides links from them to the standardized form

ALAO 2008 Conference8 Benefits of controlled vocabularies Promote discovery generally Promote discovery when the aboutness of something has nothing to do with words in the resource or its representation  Imaginative literature (Genre headings)  Humanities Promote pre-coordinated displays expand access–

ALAO 2008 Conference9 Benefits of Controlled Vocabularies Keywords hook into strings of terms Users can be routed by pre- coordinated strings Support for faceted catalogs

ALAO 2008 Conference10 Authority control outside the catalog Data critical mass  tipping point?  Homogeneity of data in terms of subject matter  Requirements within data community’s users for specificity  Size  Computing power Wikipedia’s “disambiguation”

ALAO 2008 Conference11 Repurposing our authority files National Library of Australia’s People Australia Project alia/ Wikipedia Persondata-Tool Danowski-en.pdfhttp:// Danowski-en.pdf OCLC’s Terminology Services rvices/ rvices/

ALAO 2008 Conference12 Weaknesses of controlled vocabs Artificially controlled language is not necessarily natural language—Cookery anyone? Subject searches are the most problematic for users It may work better in theory than in practice It is costly to perform necessary maintenance Cost is seen to outweigh the benefits by many administrators

ALAO 2008 Conference13 Is ontology overrated? Physicality requires ontologies for searching, but systems with hyperlinks do not Browse versus search may eliminate the need for creating lists of authorized headings

ALAO 2008 Conference14 Ontologies versus links Works well when the domain to be organized is small, has formal categories, has stable entities, is restricted and has clear edges Does not work well when the domain to be organized is large, has no formal categories, is unstable, is unrestricted and has no clear edges

ALAO 2008 Conference15 Ontologies and users Works well when the participants are expert catalogers, authoritative sources of judgement, coordinated users or expert users Does not work well when the participants are uncoordinated, armature, naïve or non- authoritative

ALAO 2008 Conference16 A different varietal The Chardonnays – Social tagging and folksonomies

ALAO 2008 Conference17 What are tags? Keywords or terms associated with or assigned to a piece of information They enable keyword-based classification and search of information

ALAO 2008 Conference18 Basic model for tagging USER TAGS RESOURCES

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ALAO 2008 Conference21 Tags versus keywords Keywords are behind the scenes, tags are often visibly aggregated for use and browsing Keywords can not be hyper-linked Keywords imply searching, tags imply linking Full-text searching is passive, tagging is active It’s more about connecting items rather than categorizing them.

ALAO 2008 Conference22 Tags can be… Descriptions of the subject matter Where the item is located The intended use of the item Individual (gift from mom) Different people have different tagging patterns Tagging systems encourage differences

ALAO 2008 Conference23 Tags are Non-hierarchical A way to create links between items by the creation of sets of objects A means of connecting with others interested in the same things

ALAO 2008 Conference24 Tagging Systems Define Who can tag What can be tagged What kinds of tags can be used Tagging systems may result in the creation of a “folksonomy”

ALAO 2008 Conference25 Types of Tagging Systems Tagging systems are used to: Manage personal information For social bookmarking Collect and share digital objects Improve the e-commerce experience

ALAO 2008 Conference26 Why is tagging so popular? It is easy and enjoyable It has a low cognitive cost It is quick to do It provides self and social feedback immediately

ALAO 2008 Conference27 Putting the social in tagging Tags allow for social interaction because when we navigate by tags we are directly connecting with others People tag for their own benefit

ALAO 2008 Conference28 Tags (and therefore social tags) are Dynamic categorization systems Often created on-the-fly Chosen as relevant to the user – not to the creator, cataloger or researcher A social activity (more on this later) Hopefully one small step toward a more interactive and responsive library system

ALAO 2008 Conference29 What is a folksonomy? Folksonomy refers to an “emergent, grassroots taxonomy”  An aggregate collections of tags  A bottom-up categorical structure development  An emergent thesaurus A term coined by Thomas Vander Wal

ALAO 2008 Conference30 Why do folksonomies work? The searcher defines the access, but The aggregation of the terms has public value It’s a typically messy democratic approach

ALAO 2008 Conference31 What makes them popular? Their dynamic nature works well with dynamic resources They’re personal They lower barriers to cooperation

ALAO 2008 Conference32 They work best when It’s easy to do It’s not commercial in nature Taggers have ownership Taggers are more likely to tag their own stuff than they are your stuff It has been shown to work well on the Web

ALAO 2008 Conference33 Terminological consensus The unexpected development: Collective action yields common terms Stabilization may be caused by imitation and shared knowledge The wisdom of the crowd

ALAO 2008 Conference34 Your tagging / my tagging Is your tagging influenced by my tagging? Of course it is! People are beginning tag in ways that make it easier for others to find like stuff Shared meaning consequently evolves for tags Most used tags become most visible

ALAO 2008 Conference35 Strengths of folksonomies Cost-effective way to organize Internet Social benefits It’s inclusive For many environments, they work well

ALAO 2008 Conference36 Collocation issues They do not yield the level of clarity that controlled vocabularies do Term ambiguity – words with multiple meanings No synonym control

ALAO 2008 Conference37 Issues with specificity Variable specificity for related terms Broadness of terms impacts precision – terms are often imprecise Mixed perspectives

ALAO 2008 Conference38 Issues with structure Singular and plural forms create redundant headings No guidelines for the use of compound headings, punctuation, word order No scope notes No cross references

ALAO 2008 Conference39 Issues with accuracy Collective ‘wisdom’ of the tagging community How does wrong information impact retrieval Conflicting cultural norms Sometimes authority counts

ALAO 2008 Conference40 “Spagging” and other problems Opening doors to opinion tags Tagging wars “Spagging”  Spam tagging

ALAO 2008 Conference41 Tidying up the tags…? Lists of tagging norms have been developed Are there programmatic solutions? Users know they are looking at tags By tidying, do we destroy the essence of why this works? Do we realistically have the resources?

ALAO 2008 Conference42 Recommendations Don’t assume that one size fits all Retain controlled vocabularies in the catalog Invite controlled vocabularies to the party on the internet Invite folksonomies to the party in the catalog Explore ways to combine the two systems

ALAO 2008 Conference43 Recommendations Invite folksonomies into the catalog strategically, and carefully Don’t put the terms in a controlled vocabulary’s index Find ways to associate terms applied across editions of works Need for mediation, or at least observation The crowd is not necessarily the best arbiter of specific terminology

ALAO 2008 Conference44 Recommendations Always remember why people tag People tag things because they want to find them, not because they want others to find them This will impact the quality of the terms, and their frequency

ALAO 2008 Conference45 Recommendations Improving the use of controlled vocabularies Subject structures are underutilized in the ILS Controlled vocabularies that exist are not being exported to the Web Well-connected terms foster discovery - Index those cross references where available

OPAL Conference, August Questions? Margaret Maurer