Thing #13 – Tagging

Tagging is a hard concept for me to grasp. For some reason, cataloging with subject headings and MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) make more sense to me because the idea is to use a set group of words or terms to describe an item. By using the set group of terms, you won’t have to wonder if the term you’re using is right. For example: let’s say I’ve described an object as light blue. Someone else might say its aqua. So if I’m searching and enter the term light blue, anything listed as aqua might not come up. I see this problem with tags. Not everyone will describe things the same way so a lot of things may not be found when searching for tags. (I know, I’m being too much of a library snob.)

On the other hand, tagging can also create some interesting paths (what I call a path is just another line of thought or a ‘path’ of research. And like real paths, they can branch off in a number of directions or lead absolutely nowhere (real profound, huh?)) so while I’m looking at other people’s bookmarks here, I could find other similar sites by clicking on their tags.

I did like playing with the delicious website and even created my own login. I may not do the tagging to begin with, but this could be a good way of keeping track of a few favorite websites between my two jobs, my home and any other computers I might visit along the way.