By now, everyone should have an overall idea behind tagging and how it works. True enough, by implementing tags into available searches it becomes easier for us to classify different articles, images and the like. It also makes searches easier and handier. But, what makes tagging really something unique is the fact that tagging focuses on the individual. What does this mean? By means of tagging, people can express on what types of things they favor by means of the things that they post for tagging. Sites like Del.icio.us maximize the use of tags in order to promote social computing within each of their applications. As opposed to sorting of items which people have become accustomed to, tagging is able to bring about more substantial benefits for people searching. Tagging has a lower cognitive cost, less rich data and most importantly it is easier to aggregate socially. Tagging also allows us to perform consensus building among peers. Tagging is so important in today’s society because of the Web becoming more “social”. It is where people come into contact with others in a split second, no matter where they are. They also maintain contact with social networks and these are continuously sought out in times of need. And a new idea, called “networked individualism” is made as a result. In a sense, tagging makes the web a shared experience. There is still more to be said about the subject matter. For full details please visit:
http://tagsonomy.com/index.php/social-information-architecture-sorting-and-tagging/
For xian’s reference to Rashmi Sinha’s talk at the IA Summit.
