User Tagging By Graham Fox, Tiffany Johnson, Sarah Toll, and Matthew Upson

What is Web 2.0? “A perceived second generation of web development and design, that aims to facilitate communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web.”

Key Elements of Web 2.0 It takes place on the Web. It is a service, not a product. It is not limited to a single software product or a single machine. It is open and shared. Users in group and social interaction are part of its organization. Users provide content and add value.

Library 2.0 Services Users are able to customize and/or personalize online content, format, & style. Users can share and interact with others’ reviews, recommendations, annotations, and lists of resources. Allows library staff to create and publish regular blogs. Provides users with enhanced and enriched catalogue records. Allows for the distribution of library information, activities, and resources through RSS feeds.

Examples of Web 2.0 Del.icio.us LibraryThing OPAC 2.0 PennTags Facebook YouTube Twitter

Folksonomies Folk + Taxonomy = Folksonomy “Classification by the people” The vocabulary of tagging

Folksonomies Versus Taxonomies – From the top down or bottom up?

Taxonomies vs. Folksonomies

Why Folksonomies? Organize Personal Information Supplement Existing Controlled Vocabularies Create Online Communities of Interest Collaboration Cost-Effective Self-Adapting; Easily updated

Folksonomies in Action

What is it? Tagging User Tagging Other titles

User Tagging is: User oriented Empowering Democratic Cheap Collaborative Dynamic Instructive

Motivations of Taggers Participate in the community Identify individuals who share interests Engage with resources Contribute to improvements Share knowledge Demonstrate extent of knowledge

Criteria for Evaluation Effectiveness Cost- efficiency Usability

Library Implementation of Tagging Functionality of the tagging service Functionality of associated search service Motivation of users Grants the library the ability to provide an index of quality internet sources Gives library patrons the ability to discover 'gray literature'

Goals of Tagging Services Develop a sense of community among remote users Encourage engagement with resources Allow for effective retrieval or records and discovery of resources Improve entertainment value Reduce costs of manually cataloging

Tagging Feature Sets Degree of restriction on tagging Context-sensitive suggestions Access to structured vocabulary Access to clouds of frequently used tags Ability to tag after viewing online

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