Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use ideas drawn from two founders of American pragmatism, William James and Charles Sanders Peirce, in order to propose a philosophical foundation that supports the value of collaborative tagging and reinforces the structure and goals of the Semantic Web.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a close analysis of key literature by James and Peirce to answer recent calls for a philosophy of the Web and to respond to research in the LIS literature that has assessed the value and limitations of folksonomy. Moreover, pragmatic views are applied to illustrate the relationships among collaborative tagging, linked data, and the Semantic Web.
Findings
With a philosophical foundation in place, the study highlights the value of the minority tags that fall within the so-called “long tail” of the power law graph, and the importance of granting sufficient time for the full value of folksonomy to be revealed. The discussion goes further to explore how “collaborative tagging” could evolve into “collaborative knowledge” in the form of linked data. Specifically, Peirce’s triadic architectonic is shown to foster an understanding of the construction of linked data through the functional requirements for bibliographic records entity-relation model and resource description framework triples, and James’s image of the multiverse anticipates the goals Tim Berners-Lee has articulated for the Semantic Web.
Originality/value
This study is unique in using Jamesian and Peircean thinking to argue for the value of folksonomy and to suggest implications for the Semantic Web.
labels each repetition of the song as Round 1, Round 2, and so forth. However, she chose to label the three main sections within each strophe as A, B, and C (as opposed to A'A / BC / BC). She explains that "this determination was based upon the fact that these transcriptions are intended for a critical musical edition, and not a text devoted to large-scale examinations of musical form" (223). Browner's decision makes sense given that she has transcribed each song in its entirety, but it also challenges readers to think about powwow song form differently from the way to which we have become accustomed. Furthermore, although all of the songs adhere to the same basic form, internal details of phrase design differ between the Northern and Southern styles, and some melodies are unusually complex, such as the "Contest Song" in Transcription 9 (95-113). Browner's presentation of thirteen transcriptions gives readers the opportunity to appreciate this variety. In preparing an ethnographic edition of music she recorded in the field, Browner has represented the intricate performance practices that make powwow song style distinctive. Her volume constitutes a significant contribution to the MUSA series as well as to the study of Native American music and the discipline of ethnomusicology as a whole. It represents a major advance in the theory of transcription as an analytical and interpretive method, and in the description and understanding of powwow musical culture. Above all, Browner shows clearly that "Western notation, whatever its drawbacks and limitations, remains the closest thing to a universal scheme for representing musical sounds" (xiv).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.