Who is tagging information?

Abstract

As Web 2.0 aims to be a more dynamic, interactive, information-rich environment, social tagging, or the creation of user-defined metadata by users, (as well as the outcome of tagging, folksonomies or the development of user-centered vocabularies or lists of keywords that can be used for searching and subject access) (Dye, 2006), is a practice developing to foster online collaboration, independent information sharing and distribution, as well as open communication. Systems that enable social tagging are becoming more common. In the Web 2.0 environment, tagging and folksonomies have been used in different contexts such as photo sharing sites like Flickr, video sharing sites like YouTube, blog search engines like Technorati, and in social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and LibraryThing (Etches-Johnson, 2006). It is generally assumed that more users are learning about and actually tagging resources. Academic articles on tagging are becoming more common (for example, Golder & Huberman, 2005; Marlow, Naaman, Boyd & Davis, 2006). However, little has been reported about tagger's motivations (Abbas, 2007; Abbas & Graham, 2006), the different contexts of tagging, and the the implications for practices and for the library and information science profession (Abbas & Graham, 2006). While the Web 2.0 environment has become a virtual laboratory for exploring the efficacy and utility of social tagging, as well as tagging practices, integrating social tagging into current business and professional practices at different institutions and professions deserves a reality check. The purposes of the panel are: 1) to explore the different contexts in which tagging is being used, 2) to examine how well social tagging has been adopted by several professions such as newspapers, libraries, museums, and within different contexts such as the Web (image and digital video sharing sites), corporations, medical professions, and other information professions, and 3) to discuss implications tagging may have to the library and information science profession. The panelists will present their observations and research results and discuss future trends for different fields.