Collaborative Tagging: Traditional Cataloging Meets the “Wisdom of Crowds”

McFadden, Scott; Weidenbenner, Jenna Venker

doi:10.1080/03615261003623021

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Mendes et al [8] presented the implementation of LibraryThing for Libraries (LTFL) in an academic library, and analysed the usage of LTFL data and their potential to facilitate resource discovery in the library catalogue. McFadden and Weidenbenner [27] examined social tagging practices in selected libraries as an added value to the library catalogue. Steele [14] listed many problems and concerns associated with a library choosing to adopt tagging as part of its catalogue, which included the options of using outside websites to provide the tags as well as creating tagging systems on the library’s own website.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing social tags with subject headings on annotating books: A study comparing the information science domain in English and Chinese

Qiu

et al. 2012

Journal of Information Science

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The literature often views the emergence of social tagging as a potential alternative method to controlled vocabulary for organizing and indexing large-scale information resources. In this paper, we present an in-depth examination of the relationship between social tagging and controlled vocabulary-based indexing and organization in two unique contexts: the information science domain and when comparing data gathered from both English and Chinese sources. Our results show that the information science domain has more overlap between social tags and controlled vocabulary-based subject terms. This is reflected in the higher percentage of overlapping terms between tags and subject terms, as well as in the strong similarity (measured by Jaccard’s coefficient) in frequently used keywords among tags and subject terms. However, social tags in the information science domain still possess limitations in terms of uncontrolled terms, where inconsistencies and noisy usages exist. Our results also show that language difference does have an impact on social tagging. The numbers of Chinese tags overall and per book are less than those of English tags. The most frequently used English tags are single-word terms, which are different from multi-word controlled vocabulary terms. In comparison, the character difference between the most frequently used Chinese tags and Chinese subject terms is just one character (3 vs 4). However, English and Chinese users do share many similar behaviours when they tag books in the information science domain. Many of the most frequently used tags are shared between the two languages and the patterns of overlap between topical tags and subject terms are also similar between the two languages. Overall, despite the application limitations for social tagging in cataloguing and indexing, we believe that tagging has the potential to become a complementary resource for expanding and enriching controlled vocabulary systems. With the help of future technology to regulate and promote features related to controlled vocabulary in social tags, a hybrid cataloguing and indexing system that integrates social tags with controlled vocabulary would greatly improve people’s organizational and access capabilities within information resources.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing social tags with subject headings on annotating books: A study comparing the information science domain in English and Chinese

Qiu

et al. 2012

Journal of Information Science

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“…In the rapidly evolving digital world tagging is the hottest trend in organizing personal resources in a digital environment and tagging has created a closer, more personalised relationship between user and their resources or collections (Samanta, K., & Rath, D., 2019). The modern cataloger can overcome limitations of the traditional catalogue with the aid of folksonomies (Mcfadden & Weidenbenner, 2010;Gupta et al, 2011) Tagging can be seen as best as a parallel value-added process rather the replacement of traditional subject headings in a library. In his thesis Kathuria, (2011) states that academic libraries which add social tags to institutional repository websites help in the retrieval of the elusive grey literature.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Tags of Select Books Written by Mahatma Gandhi a Comparative Study of Library Thing Tags and OCLC Fast Subject Headings

Katagi

Gala

2020

DESIDOC Jl. Lib. Info. Technol.

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Retrieval to specific information is critical to user satisfaction in today’s semantic web environment. Users use various terms, nomenclatures and words for aiding mnemonic value to identify concepts for future access and sharing with community members. Social tagging has emerged as a popular option for the millennials to address this issue Tagging is a convenient way used by today’s users for naming their web resources in their own terms. In this study a comparative study was carried out between the standardised Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC) Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) Subject headings and the popular user-generated tags observed on the LibraryThing website for select books written by Mahatma Gandhi, the iconic Father of Modern India, who was also a prolific writer. M K Gandhi wrote many books, letters, newsletters, essays and edited journals on various subjects like health, vegetarianism, diet, religion and social reforms. A close examination of the subject headings and tags given by users to works authored by M K Gandhi reveal that there is a vast amount of difference between the standard terms assigned using OCLC FAST Subject Headings and tags assigned by the users. The study reveals that neither subject headings nor tags are perfect systems by themselves, but they may complement each other in library catalogues. The inclusion of user-generated keywords into catalogues will greatly enhance representation, organisation and retrieval of resources in a library environment.

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“…The free-subject nature of tagging allows nearly any member of a global Internet community to apply tags "without the need for an understanding of the sometimes challenging aspects of controlled vocabulary." 42 Traditional indexing tools and cataloging systems assume the top-down approach to indexing in which a trained professional is responsible for assigning controlled vocabulary terms. The latter are referred to as controlled terms because they "designate a preferred form for each concept, person, and entity represented" and serve as a source of standardized forms of "names, terms, or titles for a particular application, discipline, or domain."…”

Section: Identification and Subject Analysis Of Photographs Through Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying and Interpreting Prewar and Wartime Jewish Photographs in Polish Digital Collections

Sroka

2011

Slavic & East European Information Resources

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Collaborative Tagging: Traditional Cataloging Meets the “Wisdom of Crowds”

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Comparing social tags with subject headings on annotating books: A study comparing the information science domain in English and Chinese

Comparing social tags with subject headings on annotating books: A study comparing the information science domain in English and Chinese

Social Tags of Select Books Written by Mahatma Gandhi a Comparative Study of Library Thing Tags and OCLC Fast Subject Headings

Identifying and Interpreting Prewar and Wartime Jewish Photographs in Polish Digital Collections

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