Re: [LM_NET] GEN: Why is it called OPAC? -- TAGGING? -- Web 2.0

[Robert Eiffert <beiffert@COMCAST.NET>]

A big difference is who is doing the word selection. Subject Heading is 
a very controlled taxonomy; we even hassle each other about creating 
special SHs.  Keywords come from  selected sources also; the terms and 
notes we use in describing a book.

Tagging is a folksomony; anyone can use any term, so it becomes a 
'peoples' choice'  I can look at what other people used as tags for a 
particular webpage or article and follow their lead, or I can create a 
term that makes sense mainly for me. I could tag a book 'mystery' and/or 
'whodunit' or 'british-30's or 'Whimsey_marries' or 'next read'

If we were able to let catalog users tag books, a teacher could pull up 
some books, create a list and share the tag with her class, or let peers 
know there is a tag for '6thgrade_readalouds', kids could regroup books 
'good_mysteries'.

I don't know how much kids are tagging now. A few ask me about them. 
Many share resources via MySpace now, so adding another social network 
and using del.icio.us tags aren't far behind (or maybe that is the next 
add-on in myspace). So we could see a lot of ephemeral 
'Mrs_Ks_assignment' tags cropping up

When we dig through del.icio.us or furl, or look at a blogger's tag 
cloud, we can see there can be a flow toward some commonality (lots of 
sites tagged 'information_literacy' and 'infolit'), but will also find 
in the multiple tags many other descriptive terms that are more 
specialized and not as popular. And just like discovering a new set of 
subject sub-headings, we can go down paths to new materials in 
unexpected places by using someone else's expertise.

And we could think of it as another step in the path Sanford Berman started.

Robert Eiffert
Librarian, Pacific MS  Vancouver WA
pac.egreen.wednet.edu/library beiffert@egreen.wednet.edu
Librarian in the Middle Blog: www.beiffert.net  robert@beiffert.net

"The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. You're 
born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then 
you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the 
degree to which you are free..." - Utah Phillips



Deborah Stafford wrote:
> Along this line -- why is it called that?
>
> Concerning the web 2.0 concept of tagging, haven't we done something like
> that all along, subject headings and now making sure the record has the
> correct "keywords" for searching.
>
> What was the name for the little colored metal gizmos that we used to put a
> "tag" on cards in the shelf list that needed attention? When I would run
> out, I used to use paper clips.
>
>   

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