Who are the people in your Bookmarking Network?

I first started using del.icio.us to organize my bookmarks after having lost my entire bookmarks file in a Mozilla crash. I liked being able to take my links with me anywhere, no matter what computer I was on, as long as an internet connection was available. A fellow librarian pointed me towards delicious. However, when I first started there were two elements of delicious I was unaware of – tagging and the social networking aspect of it.

Tagging is another form of folksonomy, which can be defined as a user created taxonomy. Now, as a librarian, I’m supposed to be disdainful of folksonomies. I was trained in controlled vocabulary and subject searching. However, I’ve grown quite fond of folksonomies.

Controlled vocabulary can get problematic, especially as language changes. For example, I was once doing a search for government documents on the parental advisory labels found on music albums. It was a very frustrating search because the items I needed were categorized under “record labeling.” When was the last time you walked into a music store and asked for the latest record? (note: The controlled vocabulary term is "Sound recordings -- Labeling -- United States." which is still not intuitive for most users).

In folksonomies, tags are fluid and can change as the community changes. This is much easier than hunting through the Library of Congress subject headings guide looking for the correct way to phrase a search.

Tags are also assigned by multiple people. Hundreds of people can assign a tag to a particular site. This is a better judge of the content than the way a library record is categorized – a sole cataloger assigns the subject terms, based on his or her own opinions and experiences, and then that single record gets downloaded by hundreds of different libraries. A tag assigned by many people is more likely to be the term used by the particular community.

Community is another key element in folksonomies. Library professionals, for example, could tag sites relevant to their profession with tags meaningful to them. The average person might save the same link, but use different tags. One of the nicer features of del.icio.us is that you can see how others have tagged the exact same link, and you can add or delete tags based on this information. If I find someone on delicious who has similar tastes, I can add them to my network and follow their new tags and links, and thus find information on my topic that I would not have on my own.

So the tags are only as strong as the community that’s behind it. I find them extremely useful when looking for particular genres of links, especially related to my favorite book or tv show at the time. I find other fans and see what they find interesting. It’s this social nature that makes social bookmarking so successful.

How is this useful to students and other professionals? The most important way is that it is another form of networking. Users can find other professionals in their field, other students in similar programs, and see what sites they find relevant. Users can learn from their tags, and make sure they are keeping up with the changes in the field.

I find it interesting the comment made by this blogger that “...people tag for personal, perhaps even selfish reasons. People don’t tag to help the community, they tag because it helps the tagger.”

In some respects, this is true. I assign a tag to my link that will help me find the information again. However, it has the side effect of adding to the community. Others may decide that they like my way of tagging and add my tag to their own links. My one personal choice can expand to thousands of users. The language of the tags continues to evolve.

Another blogger makes note that just because you’ve tagged an entry, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to find it again if you have hundreds of items tagged with the same label. That’s why bundles and subheadings are so important. If folksonomies are to become the catalogs of the future, users will have to become savvy quickly. They will have to become amateur cataloging librarians, almost reinventing the wheel.

Libraries aren’t immune to the tagging phenomena. A few posts ago I spoke about my love for library thing. The service is so popular there is a library thing for libraries so libraries can enhance their catalogs.

Choosing links

What makes a link so special that I must add it to my delicious links? My main criterion is that it contains information that I want to find again. It is a place I see myself visiting again to use that information. Also, it is a site I might want to recommend to someone else. If that person has joined my network, that makes it especially easy to share.

For this particular example, I’m going to briefly discuss the links I’ve tagged with “MSPTC.” MSPTC refers to the graduate program in Professional and Technical Communication that I am currently enrolled in. I have found resources that might be useful to other students in the program.

Techwr - a technical communication community
Society for Technical Communication

• Both of these sites are important for the community they offer. Students can interact with other technical writers, learn about the profession and discuss key issues in the field.

Technical Writing - Writer's Write

• I included this site because it includes many tools emerging technical writers might find interesting, such as discussion boards, book reviews, and how to find a technical writing job.

Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines

• Because web design and online communication is so important to the field, I thought I should include a link to some governmental guidelines on usability.

Usability in Website and Software Design

• Something more interesting than just the governmental guidelines. Usability is key to interaction on the web.

Tech Writer Voices: Podcasts on Technical Writing

• I am a highly visual learner, so I normally stay away from podcasts. However, since part of my goal is to enlighten others in the program, I discovered this important resource while surfing the web.

In addition to tagging the above with MSPTC, each link also has tags that are relevant to me with my own personal concerns and prejudices. However, with del.icio.us, I can see that 898 other people have bookmarked the link about usability guidelines. (Clearly I’m on the right track!) I can see how some people have tagged the same site. One person had only one tag: “webdesign” which does describe the page, but not in enough detail.

But with the tag cloud, we can see the most common tags for this resource. And the most prevalent tag is indeed “usability” followed closely by “webdesign” which is winning over “web_design” as a tag. The community prevails.