Tuesday, May 3, 2005

Flickr tags- From Adam Mathes thesis, Folksonomies - Cooperative Classification and Communication Through Shared Metadata. When one uploads picturesonto Flickr, one can append tags to them.  Others can also tag the photos, but they need to be designated as friends of the originator. The tags do not have a hierachy, but are flat.  The related tags are automatically generated (I sort of noticed that yesterday.) Since there is little control over the tags acouple of things happen, both good and bad: Bad- Ambiguity allows people to use a tag in different ways. Synonyms are used that may not be associated. Good-  Serendipity when searching, exposing one to a variety.  Reflects user's vocabulary, not something 'forced' by an authority. As he notes, these systems are easy to use.  One does not need to know a complex vocabulary, but gets immediately feedback from the tags they apply themselves (allows for quick correction.)  One's additon's can be shared with a group, collective metadata can be worked on. Thus, systems like Flickr capture important metadata generated by the users themselves.   Utilizing metadata and Flickr, people are already producing art: sometaithurts is "so meta it hurts" flicktion are stories I wonder if pottery can also be fodder for Flickr conceptual art? 7:03:29 AM