Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts

This was an interesting exercise! As a cataloger I am interested in the organization of information so that it is retrievable. Technorati is certainly a search tool that offers searchability and more importantly findability to the millions of blogs that they track.

Tagging plays a key role in making the information retrievable. Like traditional subject access that catalogers have used for centuries, tags offer the concept of likeness, or collocation. Tags bring related information to the forefront by providing relevant access points.

The search tool itself offers the possibility of ranking the information it retrieves by offering the choice of authority for the articles "any ; little ; some ; a lot" and even sorts it by language preference.

While the format is different than traditional cataloging and the subject access is not in controlled vocabulary terms the basic concepts of cataloging are still behind the function of Technorati -- make the information relevant by providing searchable terms (tags), rank the information (via the authority rating) and make it retrievable.

Technorati and other search tools like it may be taking the place of traditional catalogers in libraries, but the basic functions of cataloging are at the heart of what makes Technorati so useful. Both cataloging and Technorati answer the questions: What is it? What is it about? How can I find it? Are there anymore like it? Long live Cataloging!!

I liked the several search options available. You can view the most popular, view those with a theme or even search at the specific tag level. The one thing I didn't like was new blogs with little chance to develop a following because of their newness weren't including in the basic search unless you changed the authority level from "some" to "any" authority. That is also a good thing though, because people who write frequently and well on a topic will get the expert level ranking and more people will add them to their favorites.

I did go back and tag all my posts! So I should be searchable for anyone looking for "any" authority on cataloging, Library 2.0 and the topics we have addressed in our Learning 2.0 experience!
Technorati
Library 2.0
tagging
cataloging
Libraries

Tagging Folksonomy Del.icio.us

I enjoyed the YouTube videos! The first:Tagging & Folksonomy -- little catalogers in the making, organizing and establishing relationships in their world! The second: Bookmarking in Plain English -- short, sweet & to the point, very helpful!

The longer OPAL presentation, "Make Your Library del.icio.us Social Bookmarking in the Stacks" by Jason Griffey offered food for thought. As a cataloger I see the need to establish relationships and collocation so that all related items are found. The idea of a hierarchy and faceted classification brings structure that is important. The Town Center building is made possible through intricate structural elements that allow the building to exist. In much the same way as a building needs the inner structure to exist I see cataloging as the intricate structural element that allows information to be found.

From Cindy's podcast: "as more and more people add content to the web they want to organize it ... and share it". A piece of information by itself, floating in a sea of information is useless unless it can be ranked, made relevant and revealed to the person seeking it. That is what cataloging does!

So what about Tagging and Folksonomies?? Are they useless? NO!! Bring them on! They are yet other tools in the toolbox useful in finding the information people are searching for.

Fiction subject access is a perfect example of how readers could benefit from using both structured access such as:

• Library of Congress (LC)Subject headings
• Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, Etc. (GSAFD)genre terms
• Reader's Advisory appeal characteristics

and the unstructured access of: tags and folksonomies created by other readers.

Structured access can create the "what-who-where-when" very easily by creating access to:

• Genre type: Mystery - Romance - Christian Fiction - Science Fiction - Horror etc.
• Who: Professions - Continuing characters - Gender - Age
• Where: Geographic locations - Cities, rural areas, etc.
• When: Historical fiction - 21st century - 1960's, etc.
• Other books by the author
• Other books in the series
• Other books with similar genre types ; themes ; characters
• I would also like to see terms created in the catalog that associate appeal characteristics to the books in our collection. This could be a collaborative effort between Reader's Advisory Staff and Catalogers to add access to a discreet number of appeal characteristics: gentle read, mild language, Southern Fiction, etc.

The unstructured access offered by the tagging of actual readers would add an immense value: by offering the reading experience itself - what was the book like? Of course the following would depend on whether or not individual URLs are available for titles so that a reader could add tagging

• too preachy
• too wordy
• too much cussing
• it made me cry
• Sad
• characters seemed plastic, not real
• great adventure story
• Reminds me of....

World Cat is following through with a project to make this feasible!! Stay tuned!

World Cat Link:

• http://www.worldcat.org/news/default.jsp

The value of individual tagging is in the emergant order" it creates. As large numbers of people add the same or similar tagging it will automatically create lists of "What do I read next" as others find value in the reading experience of those who took the time to create the tags.

I believe tagging and folksonomies can be very useful reader tools that unlock the reading experience for other readers. We can't read every title purchased by the library, but we can give it multiple access points to help customers choose what they want to read. The meat of the story and the heart of it can be revealed by those who actually have read and tagged the title and either came away with a MUST READ or STAY AWAY FROM IT reading experience.

Question #2: Is it an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere -- absolutely!! This is also a valuable way for staff to have at their fingertips the very sites that will allow them to connect readers to books they will enjoy and information they need to find.

I plan on creating a Del.icio.us account and experiment with tagging and bookmarks -- hopefully I can use it to create an informal "read-alike" list. If not, we have plenty of other tools we have learned about including Blogs, Wikis, and MySpace to make it happen!

Folksonomies
Library 2.0
Tagging
Reader's Advisory
GSAFD
Folksonomy
Del.icio.us