Folksonomy


 * Folksonomy**

Thomas VanderWal was the first to coin the term, which is the fusion of 'folk' and 'taxonomy'. It is a tool to classify online information where users attach one or more keywords to content in attempts to organize in the digital realm(1). It also describes groups of users that employ this system of keyword assigning, or 'tagging'. Tags can be used for images, articles, bookmarks, blogs and URLs. By tagging specific keywords to any of those, it makes for easier for users to search for the content. The potentials for a community of users is that they can fabricate their own search engine that is tailored to their own interests and vocabularies. The emphasis is on the social approach to classifying data, it becomes more personal(2), rather than using systems that are already set in place by other ‘official’ organizations(3). [|Flickr] is an example of a site that is run on folksonomies, and the numbers of similar sites are on the rise such as [|Delicious] and [|Furl].

There are also two types of Folksonomies, broad and narrow. Delicious([|http://del.icio.us/)] is a social bookmarking site, where more than one person can tag on a particular site. Because many different people can tag under many different keywords, the bookmark can be located in a number of ways(4). Flickr is an example of a narrow folksonomy, because only one person may tag one piece of data.

1. Dye, Jessica. "Folksonomy: a game of high-tech (and high-stakes)." __EContent__ 29.3 (April 2006): 38(6). General Reference Center Gold. Gale. Toronto Reference Library. 27 Sept. 2007 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=GRGM>.]

2. "Folksonomy" __The Motive Web Design Glossary__ 2007. Motive ltd. 28 Sept.2007

3. Gould, Michael. "Meta--findability: Part 2" __GEO: connexion__ 5.8 (Sept 2006): 28(2). General Reference Center Gold. Gale. Toronto Reference Library. 29 Sept. 2007 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.]

4.Terdiman, Daniel "Folksonomies Tap People Power" __Wired Magazine__ 2005. CondéNet. 28th Sept. 2007 