Lissa Davies's List: Social Bookmarking

Tags
 

Users add tags to describe online items, such as images, videos, bookmarks or text. These tags are then shared and sometimes refined. For a more detailed definition of tags, see the Wikipedia entry here. 

Here are the examples I showed you in the screencast, using the tag “sharpie.” 

Photos
 Web Pages
 Event
  Videos
  People
 

For an excellent primer on tagging, see Andy Carvin’s PBS LearningNow essay.

Step 1: Discuss Tagging Policy 

Tagging can get sloppy – spelling errors, verbs v.s. nouns, etc. You probably noticed that about my tag stream. This can make trouble down the road if you want to publish your resources to a web site using an RSS. So, come up with a few standard tags. But don’t get bogged down – you’re not creating a formal taxonomy, rather it’s a folksonomy. Also, people can add whatever additional tags they want so they can remember the item as well as a description. 

If you want to understand more about tag strengths and weaknesses, I recommend the following articles:   

   Tags Strengths, Weaknesses And How To Make Them Work by Robin Good
 

   Tips for Effective Tagging from TechSoup
 

   Tips for Tidying Tags by Alexandra Samuel