CNN is reporting on the phenomenon of social tagging. I have been a member of del.icio.us for nearly a year and this idea of social tagging is changing how I collect and organise information. Everything is an object online and my tagging allows me to personalise these objects and this act creates a network linking me with similarly-minded people and ideas as the article outlines:
Here’s a new way: Forget folders or albums. Just “tag” the photos based on what’s actually in each frame.
Now, extrapolate this concept to the ideas, images, videos — and people — you meet or wish to find online. If they’re properly tagged, they’re far easier to find.
That’s “tagging”, and it’s currently all the rage among the digerati.
Where will tagging lead? I have researched virtual worlds and found social conventions such as personal space, greeting behaviour, & privacy are transferred from the physical world. My thesis is looking at social tagging within augmented physical environments. Are there real world examples of cite-u-like or del.icio.us and how are these participants different from their online counterparts?