"Folksonomy"

The term that caught my attention in the reading this week was "Folksonomy".

Wikipedia's Definition: A folksonomy is a user generated taxonomy used to categorize and retrieve Web pages, photographs, Web links and other web content using open ended labels called tags. Typically, folksonomies are Internet-based, but their use may occur in other contexts as well. The process of folksonomic tagging is intended to make a body of information increasingly easier to search, discover, and navigate over time. A well-developed folksonomy is ideally accessible as a shared vocabulary that is both originated by, and familiar to, its primary users. Two widely cited examples of websites using folksonomic tagging are Flickr and del.icio.us, although it has been suggested that Flickr is not a good example of folksonomy.

One point that interested me most was that the article from Wired.com claims that Folksonomy is "nearly useless for searching, accurate information...". This interested me because the first thing that came to my mind was, isn't that the point of tagging in the Internet world?? It's not necessarily something that you do so that people can navigate themselves around your tagged sites. I think of places like del.icio.us as a place that I go to to navigate through the sites that I have posted. So it makes sense that you tag them the way YOU want to tag them. Because in theory...you are the one returning to that site to look at the pages you have bookmarked.

I have found through my use of both Furl and del.icio.us that I prefer del.icio.us. I like the simplicity the del.icio.us offers...and find that I can navigate myself around it a lot easier. I have been using del.icio.us for a few months now...specifically because my Online Research course last trimester made a tool like this useful.

They are interesting tools...but I'll be honest...I hadn't heard about them at all until this past trimester. And I think that if I hadn't heard about them through Marlboro that I would still search and bookmark the Internet the old fashioned way...and be ok with that.