Semantic imitation in social tagging

Abstract

We present a semantic imitation model of social tagging and exploratory search based on theories of cognitive science. The model assumes that social tags evoke a spontaneous tag-based topic inference process that primes the semantic interpretation of resource contents during exploratory search, and the semantic priming of existing tags in turn influences future tag choices. The model predicts that (1) users who can see tags created by others tend to create tags that are semantically similar to these existing tags, demonstrating the social influence of tag choices; and (2) users who have similar information goals tend to create tags that are semantically similar, but this effect is mediated by the semantic representation and interpretation of social tags. Results from the experiment comparing tagging behavior between a social group (where participants can see tags created by others) and a nominal group (where participants cannot see tags created by others) confirmed these predictions. The current results highlight the critical role of human semantic representations and interpretation processes in the analysis of large-scale social information systems. The model implies that analysis at both the individual and social levels are important for understanding the active, dynamic processes between human knowledge structures and external folksonomies. Implications on how social tagging systems can facilitate exploratory search, interactive information retrievals, knowledge exchange, and other higher-level cognitive and learning activities are discussed.

The impact of image descriptions on user tagging behavior: A study of the nature and functionality of crowdsourced tags

“…The most notable study on the implicit imitation of tags is the work of Fu et al (2010), who argued that imitation in tagging systems happens on the semantic level rather than on the word level. Lately, Seitlinger & Ley (2012) also introduced a multinomial model derived from Fuzzy…”

Balancing the Fluency-Consistency Tradeoff in Collaborative Information Search with a Recommender Approach

“…Different research perspectives on social tagging (e.g., Fu, Kannampallil, Kang, & He, 2010;Lorince & Todd, 2016;Nelson et al, 2009;Pirolli & Kairam, 2012;Schweiger, Oeberst, & Cress, 2014) suggest that the use of tag-based annotations in digital curation could support such balancing. Tags are freely chosen keywords with which users describe resources on the Web and which may be visible to others.…”

“…On the other hand, given sufficient consistency in applying certain tags for reoccurring topics, they support tag-based sharing of collected resources and facilitate an exploitation of own and others' search results (e.g. Fu et al, 2010;Lorince & Todd, 2016;Nelson et al, 2009;Pirolli & Kairam, 2012).…”

Verbatim and Semantic Imitation in Indexing Resources on the Web: A Fuzzy‐trace Account of Social Tagging

“…This conceptualization of imitation is only concerned with predicting reuse of the surface form of the tag, that is, its exact wording. The second approach goes beyond the word level and models semantic imitation: it is not necessarily the tag that is reused but the tagged concept (Fu et al, 2009;Fu, Kannampallil, Kang, & He, 2010). The assumption is that certain tags, such as moment and time, prompt a user to think of a particular topic, which in turn leads to the production of new but semantically related tags, such as instant, or to the reuse of old ones, such as moment.…”