Tagging: Peoplepowered Metadata for the Social Web

by Gene Smith

Tagging is fast becoming one of the primary ways people organize and manage digital information. Tagging complements traditional organizational tools like folders and search on users desktops as well as on the web. These developments mean that tagging has broad implications for information management, information architecture and interface design. And its reach extends beyond these technical domains to our culture at large. We can imagine, for example, the scrapbookers of the future curating their digital photos, emails, ticket stubs and other mementos with tags. This book explains the value of tagging, explores why people tag, how tagging works and when it can be used to improve the user experience. It exposes tagging's superficial simplicity to reveal interesting issues related to usability, information architecture, online community and collective intelligence.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Business

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2007

Reviews

[Rob Kall · Rating 5 out of 5]

very helpful, specialized book that help me think through design of a tagging system for my content management system.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised to find a good discussion of an otherwise simple topic. I originally was skimming this book looking for simple ways to teach tagging concepts to others--I'm well-versed in tagging theory and methodology myself--but found I learned a few things, or was at least prompted to think differently about aspects of tagging. Smith gives a breakdown of tagging systems, suggestions for implementors, and how they can work with closed systems to provide excellent data classification and "findability".

I'd be harder pressed to recommend purchasing it, but it was certainly worthwhile and gave me some ideas on making tagging concepts easier to understand. That this 2007 book already feels a bit outdated based on its sample sets indicates how fast and far tagging (and Web 2.0 junk) has come since its publication. It's still a relevant resource, but hopefully we'll see a refresh in the next 2 years.

[Jaymi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of tagging has always fascinated me. I wish OS X had tagging built into the file system so I could classify and recall files, images and music based on how I relate to them. When I heard about this book, I hoped that it would help shed some more light on tagging.

I imagined that the book would help expand upon various tag methodologies and how one could get more out of using a tagging system or site. There IS a little bit of that in this book, mostly in the first chapter.

The rest of Tagging caters to the coders. It gives guidelines, business aspects, and code rules to help programmers design and develop their own tagging system for an Intranet or home-brew web application.

While I found it all very interesting, I'm not a coder, so much of the tech was lost to me. I'll be giving this one to kender to read, maybe he and his company can get more out of it than I did.

[Ellen Chisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

So: this book is pretty simple at the beginning- but it brings up some good points- like the difficulties in defining a standard syntax, contrasted with the value of intense personalized systems.

Types of tags:
- Personal Tags
- Social Tags
- Information Architecture

I really liked the chapter on the actual creation of a system for tagging, and also some of the ending examples about del.icio.us and other tagging systems.

[Chris H. H. Leeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

its a really good summary what tagging is about

[Arkaitz Zubiaga · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting overview on social tagging systems. The features of tags, as well as their difference to a classical category-based taxonomic system, are presented in this book.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. Easy to read.

[Markku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compact, cunning and clear account on tagging.