Thing 11: Tagging and del.icio.us

Social bookmarking is intriguing--I can see how useful it would be when you're researching. I've encountered the problem of where to put a URL, and it is helpful to add as many tags as needed to a single URL--rather than adding a single URL to a number of different folders. It is also very convenient to have access to your bookmarks from anywhere.

I do use bookmarks, but not very much. There are some sites--less than a dozen--that I use on a regular basis--those are displayed on my links toolbar in IE. As for other sites that I just might use again, I don't bookmark them--I just re-search on Google. I think del.icio.us would be more relevant to me personally if I used more bookmarks. When I created my del.icio.us account, I found I had a very short list, and very few of them had been used by very many others. Does that mean I'm not using the best sites? Many of the sites I use most often I don't bookmark--I just type in the address. Probably inefficient....

I think I've been a cataloger for too long--I'm really hung up on using controlled vocabulary. I have an initial, negative, gut reaction to anybody applying any terms they choose to a site. The same goes for applying tags that reflect only a small portion of the site. The Educause article mentioned some of these problems. I experenced the latter situation personally when I was tagging pictures on Flickr. I had some pictures of a group of guys who were pheasant hunting. I tagged only "hunting" since this is how I thought of them. I didn't make any attempt to be thorough--just because that would have taken longer, and I was only doing it for myself. I suspect the same thing happens to other people, too.

I have to admit, though, that critica mass would take care of that problem. If enough people use a site and tag it, it will eventually be adequately described. I just wonder what the critical mass might be. I just ran across an article on the subject of tagging in library catalogs--I'll have to track it down.

I also have to admit that Library of Congress subject headings, although controlled, sometimes have almost no relation to how people really talk. Even as I cataloger, I sometimes have to ask how on earth they came up with THAT language!
I know that social bookmarking sites are extremely popular. I need to be intentional in using them.