Tag trails: Navigation with context and history

Abstract

We describe a technique for preserving and presenting context and history while navigating web resources described by keywords. We use tagging and tag clouds as an application area for our technique. The technique is illustrated by employing it in a prototype that interfaces data from a social tagging website used to bookmark academic articles. The prototype displays a "tag trail" which can reveal contextual connections between web resources and the associated tags. We argue that the user's understanding of web resources is aided by making such connections explicit.