Tagging or Taxonomy

Week 6 #13-15

I don't know about you but I like formal classification systems & try to work them into conversation whenever possible ("Say, look over there, are they Pelargoniums or Geranimums?"). I guess that might classify me as OCD (ha ha)... or maybe I'm just an old Librarian ... same thing really... but back to tagging & Del.icio.us.

Del.icio.us allows us to access combined 'bookmarks' from unconnected terminals. This is good.
It also allows us to use fluid, flexible and descriptive subject headings to organise our 'bookmarks'. This can be useful when content matter is constantly evolving and where access is made equal to all by the simplicity of the language. However, a tag by any name is not the same; 'spider' and 'web' have internet connotations that the humble gardener, hoping to eradicate a poisonous pest, will not find helpful. Not so good.
This brings me to the social feature of Del.icio.us whereby we can search the bookmarks of others via their tags & hopefully discover sites useful for our own research. Sounds good but I was disappointed in the lack of Australian content in the searches I trialled.

Overall, I judge 'share websites tagging' (aka Del.icio.us) to be 643.728 (aka waste product)!

Technorati

Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory - the blog post search allowed most freedom with choice of tags.
popular blog, searches and tags - nothing of interest.

Overall - see above. I don't have time to read blogs and I find them too chaotic.

On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

Away from the “icebergs” -
To better bibliographic services -
To more powerful ways to cooperate -

I realise there is a need to evaluate how Libraries can remain relevant in a time when information is so freely available everywhere & more up-to-date than print material can provide. I also realise that we need to examine how we can tap into this in a meaningful manner. What concerns me is that I don't find much of what we have looked at so far to be meaningful. Nor do I think that patrons we seek us out to reveal such 'wonders' to them. Certainly we should look at ebooks etc & I can see some value in patrons contributing tags, wikis etc. I also think the ideas presented in 'To better bibliographic services' were mostly worthwhile (eg locating a map with geographic subject headings). Overall, however, I don't feel that the type of information/services patrons need will be found in blogs, image generators etc