Yay, me!

I finally added some tags to this here blog-o-mine! They may be very sad tags, but they are tags nonetheless.

Week 6...#13..Tagging, Part 2

Discovery Exercise 1:

HA! I only have to read the article article by Thomas Vander Wal on the origin of the word “folksonomy” and the role he played in coining the term...I don't have to blog about it! Yay!

...and I've officially reached my exclamation point quota for today...

Discovery Exercise 2:

Silly me, I tried searching vespa again. The tag cloud was predictably small, and a bit odd (community colleges , japanese, public welfare, and secret service, huh?). Not very effective in this instance. Since I obviously have a one-track mind as of recent, I decided my next search would be on wasps. Vespa is Italian (I think) for wasp, and the Vespa scooter was thus named because of its likeness in shape to wasps, the buzzing, flying, stinging, insect that is ever so abundant in my office during the summer months. This tag cloud was much more interesting, and I can definitely see how it could help a student narrow down (or broaden out) to the specific information he/she seeks. For example, the tag cloud produced by searching wasps would allow a student who was looking for the insect to pinpoint that information, while also allowing a student seeking more information on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (the Freshman First Year Book, Mercury 13, includes some interesting footnotes about this group) or White Anglo Saxon Protestants to pinpoint that information.

I don't teach classes...yet. I can imagine that this would be an interesting way for students to discover and dig deeper into a topic of interest (or a topic forced upon them by an instructor).

Discovery Exercise 3:

del.icio.us could definitely be a useful tool. Personally, I spend my time at no fewer than four computers (1-3 at work, one desktop at home, one laptop at home, one desktop at my parents, and any number of computers on UK's campus). Being able to access all my favorites from any of these computers, not having that information tied to one, physical locale? Well, that seems like a great idea. Of course, while I have played with del.icio.us, I have not REALLY put it (or my use of it) to the test, yet. We'll see how things go...will I or won't I use it? Only time will tell.

For teaching a class? Well, see my comments on how it benefits me personally, and change those personal sites to class/subject related sites that I trust and frequent, often depending on the class/subject at hand. Now those sites are not tied to my laptop (which could go on the fritz or have a low battery) or the classroom computer...any computer with a connection will suffice. Plus, I can share that information with my students. My students can share sites with each other if they are working on a group project/paper. So, yeah, I guess it could be useful. Of course, I don't teach...yet.

As for how it benefits the library...if it benefits our patrons, the chances are good that it will benefit us. Granted, the idea and the way our patrons use it may not be library-specific, but why not let them know it's available and that it is an easy way that they can check all their favorite sites from any computer, home, dorm, lab, library, etc...

Discovery Exercise 4:

Checked out technorati...found my blog (had to dig just a bit)...so I'm done.

Week 6...#12...Tagging!

EXERCISE 1:

Okay, let's do this step-by-step.

1. Go to Google and type in a topic that interests you. See how many hits you retrieve.

About 10,800,000 for Vespa.

2. Do the same keyword search in eQuest and see how many hits you retrieve.

Two hits for Vespa.

3. Now search for the topic as a subject (or author if it is an author) in eQuest.

Ummm...nothing.

Google gave me lots and lots of Vespa specific hits (and I'm sure there are some not-so-relevant hits in the mix). An eQuest keyword search resulted in a grand total of two hits, while a subject search gave me nada. Of course, our library is an academic one. Maybe if I had chosen something else...anyway, now the rest of the exercise:

1. Can you see a parallel between the catalog and tagging in Web. 2.0?

Sure, there is a parallel of some sort there... although my own search was not necessarily the best example.

2. Do you think tagging is a reinvention of library cataloging? Or, do you think that tagging is a continuation of tradition of library catalogs, but an expansion of that tradition into new and exciting possibilities?

I am not really sure. I can definitely see how tagging is useful/helpful/necessary, but I am not entirely sure whether I would consider it to be a reinvention or expansion of traditional library cataloguing. I'm leaning towards an expansion...or maybe neither...

3. Or, do you see another angle to tagging?

I have no idea.

EXERCISE 2:

1. Review the tags in your blog, in Flickr and in Library Thing. Think about the terms you have used.

I have not made good use of tagging in any of these venues; in fact, I have not tagged ANY of my blog entries!

Having learned a little more about tagging, consider changing your tags to make them more searchable.

Yep. I should definitely do that.

You may even want to add more tags. For instance, in case you haven’t noticed, Flickr allows up to 75 tags per photo. Please don’t be like the cataloger writing these words who learned that in traditional cataloging 1 to 3 subject headings are enough.

Again, I should do that.

Go wild with your tags if you want to.

Woot!

Add a few words to your blog about the joys of tagging.

Geez. I don't know yet. Tagging is GREAT! Okay, it is obvious that I have never truly catalogued anything in my whole life, and, if you go to my LibraryThing shelf, you can see the wonders of my tagging. I'm still out on all of this; I can see how it's useful and necessary, but I don't know what else to write. I absolutely understand that it would be hard to find the stuff I want if it had no tags. Additionally, I'm sure we are all familiar with how the language of the patron often differs from that of controlled vocabularies; often, our patrons do not use the same terms that our controlled vocabulary dictates, so user-based tagging would definitely be neat and/or helpful in some instances. Then, on the other side, willy-nilly tagging across the board could lead to some wild times. So tagging vs. controlled vocabularies...do we like it?...do we hate it?...control/no control...bad/good...does it really have to be an either/or situation? I think the University of Pennsylvania has a very interesting idea with their PennTags. User added content in addition to all the things we *know* and *love* about libraryland...not too shabby!