Tagging

Tagging is a user - generated way to organise a blog. This is a type of meta-data that uses key words instead of sentences to store data/information. This question around tagging is its reliability. Like many user-generated information they can be used in any way for whatever purpose the user wants. Due to think the information that the user has used to name a tag (holiday) may be misleading by having a tag that has no relation to the word holiday.

Search engines work by 'spiders' (software programmes) looking all over the web to find particular key words that the user has put in. The search engine then gives a list of links that best relate to the input information, the list is often organised by the most popular link being at the top and making its way down.
The search engine looks for key words that are stored in the meta-data (source page of the website). By picking up on the same words that are put in the search engine or closely relate to it, allows the user to see it.

Tagging is therefore similar to meta-data as they have data that is stored and in some cases categorised so that they will be easy to locate, whether that is through the users or through search engines.
Tagging is also like folksonomies as they both help organise information and make it easy to label as it is just one key word, it also means that if you have a picture on a networking site or just want to give any information a name so that you can go over it later, it can become very handy.

The difference between meta-data, tagging and folksonomies however is evident in their reliability. Meta-data is stored in web pages so that the information that is searched in a search engine can be found straight away. Tagging and folksonomies however is user generated, meaning any information or label given is dependent on the user that gave the label. If the user were to give a label of pizza to a picture of a car, if you were to go back and look for that photo, you would not be able to find it, which can mislead others.

Although tagging is incredibly unreliable, if it is used correctly it can be less time consuming and easier for others to find files that they are looking for without having great detail about it. As time passes are more users are using tags to label information, it is possible that this will become the primary way of looking for information rather than looking in libraries. By doing it online it is quicker and less effort. Search engine sites such as Google and Yahoo are now Internet giants as they are able to find any information through the web in seconds as they focus on getting the most important data users are most looking for. From this we can see that everything (on the web) is categorised.


folksonomies
folksonomy 2