So I think I have figured out some things about social tagging since I posted my last blog. I realized that the website Delicious is much easier to use than I thought. Tags are helpful and convenient because you are basically getting other people's information about topics you are researching or are interested in by the click of a few buttons, and all for free!
Now my question is: What is considered a social tag and what isn't? What websites are social tagging websites and which aren't. Is Facebook social tagging? Is Twitter? I think that they are, but are there different categories of social tagging? Do you think Social Tagging is an umbrella over multiple topics? Are there specific websites that cater to academic tagging rather than social tagging? Are Twitter, Facebook, and Delicious all really in the category of Social Tagging, or are they sub categories of social tagging? What do you think are characteristics of social tagging sites?
My midterm group
Group 1. Social Tagging e.g.,Delicious, Flickr, etc.
Melissa - What is it?
Beth - How Does it work?
Laura - Examples?
Christopher - How Can it be used in the Art Classroom?
Posts
Educause has a nice downloadable pdf, Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking, that may be helpful.
ReplyDeleteHere is good example of tagging... sort of. I hope I am not just making it more confusing but i think i have a good example.
ReplyDeleteYour Ipod. Your Ipod uses meta data (which tagging uses) in much the same way that these sites do. Your songs have info like artist name, song title, album title, and genre attached to them. This is not file name. It is not what you see when you look at a song file on your hard drive but the information is there for the right application (the software on your ipod) to read. Your ipod organizes your songs in much the same way that a site like delicious is organizing web sites accept that with sites like delicious the tags (the meta data) is colaborative.
I think social tagging is an umbrella term. Facebook would be in the social network category, and Delicious would be in the social bookmarking category.
ReplyDeleteI think that Facebook would be considered a social networking website simply because the information placed by the individual is more personal than professional. The it is more difficult for one to decipher who has the same professional interests unless they indicate it on their information page. Furthermore, to find people in the network, a friend request has to be put in to see the profile if it is not public.
ReplyDeleteI would consider Delicious to be a more helpful professional website to network. Being able to see one's tags that can link you to a resource is more accessible and can be used to build upon information.
Precisely what social tagging is is a bit of a hair splitting question. Social tagging is a conversation that's going on all the time.
ReplyDeleteI suppose if you have your own blog or facebook and are privately tagging your entries, it's not social tagging. Once your friend tags herself on a photo in your album, though... there you are. You've started whispering.
There are sites that want to tag Everything http://espgame.org/gwap/ They're talking a lot.