Organization Is Key

Monday, May 16, 2005

Folksonomy

Folksonomy is a very important term today involving terms and language used on the internet. The term is fairly new and means something socially created. I learned that it was coined by a man named Thomas Vander Wal. I am impressed at the way we as individuals have become so involved with the internet and how some know more than others. We have become a generation of folksonomies. Tagging is something we have become accustomed to with both flicker and delicious. These new meanings are soon to be understood and used by many. Its a way to communicate more fluidly and fast. That is one of the main aspects of the internet, fast communication.


Both Deanna and Joy make great comments on how folksonomies are original because they are created by people for the people. It is almost in a sense a new language. New words and phrases are developed to make information sharing quicker. For example, many people know that when someone writes in all caps, its described as "screaming". This is known by many internet and computer savvy people. I find myself "tagging" all the time. I will tag my photos and blogs with short quick descriptions and those somehow become staples for the images. This may or may not have a positive effect. Jessica really helps to understand folksonomy in a way the websites I looked at did not. Tagging is explained great on this website I found and it really promotes it as something for people to use to be able to define themselves through their own language.


This makes me think of a recent conversation with my sister tonight. We talked about some of the language we use that is made up and not in the dictionary. It all started when we went out to a bar and I was wearing a shirt I refered to as a muumuu. My sister kept saying that I had made it up but I kept reasuring her it was a real word. Finally she was reading a magazine where a man was pictured wearing a "muumuu". We came to the conclusion, her misunderstanding was because there are words people use that are not real words. For us its the word "grody". Has anyone ever heard this word used before? My friend says that she only hears my sister and I use it therefore its a made up word. We traced the origin of the word back to my father and that he had turned "gross" into grody. Anyways, that was a little off topic but it all comes back to tagging and the way people use their own language to describe and create unique meaning.

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