The value of both a folksonomy and taxonomy.

Folksonomies and taxonomies have their uses in classifying of information. Sites like Delicious, Flickr, Facebook and Technorati do this to enable users to interesting content. Both of Folksonomies and Taxonomies have their place but with the online worlds merging and becoming more of a social interactive space can features of both be incorporated in to Web 3.0?

Let's look at the differnces between Folksonomies and Taxonomies:

Folksonomies Pros and Cons:

1. Pros

a) Folksonomies support serindiptius finding in a community.

b) Anyone can contribute to a folksonomy in a social networking community.

c) Doens't require a specialist knowledge the subject area to construct and add terms via tagging.

d) Based on key words created by publisher and user creating a bottom up indexing heirachy.

e) Many can index - crowd sourcing.

f) Fast at updating and capturing new terms.

2. Cons

a) Don't support searching like structured taxonomies created by information professionals.

b) Have a narrow flat structure of terms.

c) As the community grows more generalist tags will make content harder to find. As humans are are lazy it is doubltful that they will go back and retag thier collections to enable browsing on a more effecient basis.

Taxonimies Pros and Cons:

1. Pros

a) Allows the user to search a wide variety of terms including narrower and broarder catagories.

b) Vastly improves the searching capability of a database.

c) Based on a controlled terms created by editorial committee.

2. Cons

a) Requires revisioning and maintenance other wise the thesauri's vocabulary in the taxonomy becomes stale and useless aid to searching.

b) Doesn't allow creators or users to add terms to the thesauri of the taxonomy.

c) Requires people to have a knowledge of the subject they researching.

d) A few people decide on the terms in the thesauri and only trained people can use it.

e) Slow at adding new terms.

So you ask what value is a user generated folksonomy offer in comparisson to a specially created taxonomy by a trained professional?

Well with a folksonomie anyone can do it. You decide how to discribe your content that has been uploaded on to a social networking site. The site can harness the power of crowd sourcing to and offer suggestions to you as you tag thus creating a guided tagging system. Whether your site does this is depends on it's purpose for organising content and how it is shared. New terms to discribe contemporary social phenomena can be added instantly keeping your folksonomy upto date with very little effort. A folksonomy may aid in a community browsing for content but will not allow for specific searching terms as a controlled vocabulary thesaus would in a taxonomy. That's where a folksonomie falls down - a folksonomy is only as good as it's tags. The more generalist the tags are in a large site the less relevant content will be found when a user is specifically searching for a photo, post or podcast.

I just thought I would mention one caviet here:

There is a link between both a Folksonomy and Taxonomy. It's not obvious at first but over time both will have problems with terms becoming out moded due to changes in language use in contemporary culture. So unless each regularly revises and updates it term structure and globally re-indexes it's content the ability to retrieve older content reliably will decrease.

Any comments?

Points to consider when deploying microblogging in the work place.

Now this is a very good question I would like to reference the following article from Linked In:

The top 5 corporate Twitter disasters in 2012 [http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121120210129-2967511-the-top-5-corporate-twitter-disasters-of-2012]

This article points out that:

1. The corporate twitter account needs to be secured so that only authorized tweets can be sent out. Thus avoiding the accidental posting of embarrassing comments meant only for consumption on private accounts.

2. Once a tweet is posted is it generally out there for all to see. This is your public profile take care of it an nurture it so that you reap the benefits.

3. Using microblogging or any social tool requires common sense. Don't joke about death, disasters, cultural taboos and include racist one liners or images.

4. Don't tweet confidential material - you could get fired and sued.

5. Have a line of authority to vet tweets before they are published on your corporate profile.

Having considered what can go wrong let's look at what can happen when microblogging is used in the right way.

As Grenfell [2011] writes in her article micro blogging can increase the sense of staff belonging to an organization, break down information silos  and hierarchial structures in the workplace.

Things to consider when introducing micro-blogging in a workplace:

1. There must be by-in from top management so others in the organization will follow.

2. A clear strategy is required and must be connected organizational goals.
 
3. Training is required for all staff members to understand how to use micro-blogging effectively without making the mistakes as mentioned above.

4. Have realistic expectations about how the organization will benefit from micro-blogging.

5. Any micro-blogging set up will need community monitors to keep management tuned in to issues and trends. These monitors set the tone of the community and enforce social workplace norms.

6. The organization needs to have formal policies in place to explain expected behaviour standards when using micro-blogging technology in the work place and for outside marketing purposes.

7. Any IT system requires administration and support and a internal micro-blogging site is no different.

8. To increase the value of the micro-blogging and it's uptake identify thought leaders and invite them to introduce micro-blogging to their spheres of influence and the benefits of using the technology to their colleagues.

9. Run mini training sessions in the organization so that staff have the opportunity to ask questions and learn how the new tool works.

Clearly micro-blogging has benefits over email and can enhance communication internally and externally for an organization. Setting up a micro-blogging community needs top down support as well as mentors in the organization for it to gain acceptance. Also as with any IT product there is a need for on going support  and administration. The community using it needs to be clear policies of use and community monitors to enforce these policies and report trends and issues that needs to be addressed by the company executive.

References:

Grenfell, C. [2011] Deploying micro-blogging in organizations. Retrieved from:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_microblogging/index.html

Holmes, R. [2012] The top 5 Twitter mistakes of 2012. Retrieved from: www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121120210129-2967511-the-top-5-corporate-twitter-disasters-of-2012

The social life of information.

With Web 2.0 any body with access to an internet connection can now create, publish, disseminate, discuss, promote content on line and measure their campaign success.  Once we have published our content it is out there for all time. The story takes on a life of its own as it passes from author to reader to be manufactured or spread as an idea to others and even acted upon by others.

One such demonstration of creating, distributing, discussing and calling for action was the Arab Spring in the Middle East. Click to listen to ABC's PM - Social Media and the Arab Spring. This demonstrated the power social media has in spreading ideas or memes and people's ability to take action as a group or society. While the call for democracy in countries with limited self determination is positive outcome and shows that large groups of people working together via a common communication medium. Using social media this way can also have negative consequences for society as demonstrated by the Birmingham riots in August 2011. See: Birmingham riots encouraged by internet campaign on social media.

It is this collaboration and the speed of which it happens that makes social media a unique when compared to other communication channels. No where can you ask a question of a large body of people and get an answer on a local, national and international scale. This crowd sourcing today is happening on a larger scale than it was possible twenty years ago due to the advances in technology. Examples of using the power of the crowd include - Free open source software (FOSS) projects such as Open Suse (www.opensuse.org) a viable computer operating system alternative to Microsoft and Garmz  now Lookk.com a website allowing customers to vote new apparel designed by up coming fashion talent and have the winning garment produced. See: http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/garmz-helps-young-design-talent-produce-garments-through-crowdsourcing


However, just as there is crowd sourcing, being part of  or following a particular community can also be limiting. As your community filters the information  and ideas it wishes to hear about so members of this community including you potentially miss out on news that could be beneficial. For example  Ellison, Steinfield and Lamp [2009] cites Sunstien in their article - Social networking sites and society: Current trends and possibilities, saying:

That Internet [social networks] use will allow people to increasingly exclude viewpoints that conflict with their own, creating a bubble of information in which individuals are exposed only to  data that reinforces their current opinions "


So we could say that information has a life of it's own once it is released via any social networking tool. How long this information is useful before it pass into history depends on the currency of the information, it's value to the network, the opinions community members have of it and  whether it is promoted in other networks.   You could liken the social life of information to a river, its start gently as a stream, the stream grows as more volume of water is added to it. A river sometimes has tributaries that branch off and become eddies and the water in the eddies become lost. Eventually the main tributary comes to the coast and empties out in to the ocean.  Just like a river so too is the social life of information.

References:

Britton, N. (2011). Birmingham hit by riots as internet campaign encourages violence. The Telegraph. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8690273/Birmingham-hit-by-riots-as-internet-campaign-encourages-violence.html

Coglin, M. [Presenter]. (2012, March 15). PM - Social media and the Arab spring. [Radio Broadcast]. Sydney. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.   Retrieved from:
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3454535.htm

Ellison, N. B., Lampe, C., & Steinfield, C. (2009). FEATURE Social network sites and society: current trends and future possibilities. interactions, 16(1), 6-9. Retrieved from: https://www.msu.edu/~nellison/EllisonLampeSteinfield2009.pdf

 

Garmz helps young designer talent produce garments through crowd sourcing. [N.D.] Retrieved from: http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/garmz-helps-young-design-talent-produce-garments-through-crowdsourcing

 

 

 

 

What is Web 2.0?

A simple explanation of Web 2.0 to paraphrase  Christopher Barnett of Explainingcomputers.com:

It is the use of the internet for sharing personal content between individuals through online service delivery model. The web hosts the services that people use to find, create, edit and using any type of media to instantly publish, link to and publicize through key sites. Good examples of these sites that enable this kind of activity are Google, Blogger, Youtube, Twitter and Wikipedia. These sites may also use intermediary software services to facilitate the sharing of information for example payment gateways for the purchasing of products and services used by individuals.

I like this explanation because this adequately describes in layman's terms what individuals use Web 2.0 services to do. That is to interact with each other and groups of people to publish and market information as well as purchase goods and services.

You can also look at this way in the Web 1.0 universe commercial sites depended upon you finding their sites and passively interacting to buy services. Now in Web 2.0 individuals are using social networking sites to create and share information from multiple sources. On these social networking sites, advertisers now spruik for your business and are paying for the privilege. No longer are you just using a service but you are also commenting on that service and telling about it to your friends, acquaintances and the whole world your experience through social networking.

Reference:

Barnett, Christopher., [2012], http://explainingcomputers.com/web2.html. Accessed 21 November 2012.

What is social networking anyway?

This depends on the context in which you use social networking. Social networking is not new it has been around for centuries. Early civilizations did it when they traded with each other. They would pass on information about what were the best routes to use during the seasons, where to obtain water and food when traveling. Later on when people became more settled craftsman set up guilds in which to pass on knowledge about their skills, exchange ideas and to obtain fair renumeration for their work. This usually happened in a limited geographical area due to the availability of transport options. As transport options improved due to technological advances these social networks extended their reach from local to state and from state to national boundaries. It wasn't until the invention of postal services and sea transportation could these networks spread internationally albeit slowly at first. Then as the telegraph, telephone and air travel become widespread the exchange of information between, individuals, groups and nations increased rapidly during the twentieth century.

When examining social networking in the context of the twenty-first century the definition of social networking has been enlarged. This is due to information technology advances such as the creation of the personal computer, easy to use computer software, the invention of the internet and I.T. networking tools. This has enabled individuals, not only to form groups locally but transcend state, national and international boundaries. At first only scientists and a few IT savvy people used the internet to communicate via email and bulletin boards. Then businesses discovered the marketing and commercial potential of the internet. This changed when more internet users discovered that they could create their own content and share it with anyone who could use a web browser. So internet consumers became content creators with the advent of blogs, wikis and e-zines. So personal relationships were able to be extended in to the electronic diaspora of the the internet enabling people with similar interests to meet physically as well as virtually. The ability for people to socially network was vastly increased with advent of commercial organizations creating specific websites dedicated to encouraging users to connect and share content. The content sharing revolution started in 1996 with the launch of Six Degrees dot com (Fig. 1 http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html abated with Facebook becoming one of the most popular social networking sites in the world with one billion users as of October 2012. (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-04/facebook-the-making-of-1-billion-users)  This sharing of content is not restricted only social networking sites but people can also share media such as photos and videos via social media sites such as Youtube, Flickr and Pinterest.



So what is social networking to me? Social networking enables me to keep in contact with friends and family to share news and common interests. I especially like being a part of a community that shares creative interests in the area of textile art. I can comment on what others are creating, ask them how they did and see what events they have attended. I have found that Facebook has been particularly useful to network with other costumers. To a limited extent I also use www.acg.org.auwww.acg.org.au to chat to other costumers in Australia. I have kept a blog for at least seven years on my own textile art. Perhaps you would like to visit it? See: www.rosiesstuffnsew.blogspot.com.au I also use Linkedin to meet new people in my profession, talk about familiar issues, here about industry events and enlarge my circle of potential employers in the future. Ofcourse when I study I use the Interact study space provided by Charles Sturt University to work through my modules and contribute to class discussions. I don't use media sharing sites such as Flickr all that much as my photo collection from  my travels is sometimes entered and displayed in photographic competitions and galleries. I feel rather shy about putting my photos out there for any one to steal my intellectual content without asking. I only started microblogging on Twitter late last year. I don't really like Twitter that much as I can't say anything really concisely in 100 characters. I like the medium of Facebook or a blog like this much better.

In INF206 Social Networking for Information Professionals, I hope to expand my understanding of social networking technologies, to understand theory and the practice of using Library 2.0 to interact with customers in creating an collaborative library service. Be able to evaluate various social networking tools against users and community needs to recommend a social networking strategy. Then develop knowledge of how a social networking strategy impacts on individuals and organizations and the issues associated with using this technology to create and implement an information policy in an organizational context.