Understanding Tagging and Folksonomy - SharePoint Saturday DC

Understanding Tagging and Folksonomy

Thomas Vander WalPresented to: SharePoint Saturday DC

15 May 2010

Recent History of Consumer Tagging

Enterprise Search Success

?

Few organization claim 80% or better search

Let’s be optimistic

80% Success

1 in 5 searches do not find what is desired

In an organization with 500 daily searches

That is 100 failures

Average knowledge worker - 16% of time

searching

16% of 40 hours = 1.25hr

20% of 1.25 hrs =

15 minutes per week per knowledge worker is counter productive

At $60k salary, poor search cost per person $375 a year

Remember, we being optimistic

Knowledge workers are often the most efficient

at search

Most organizations have 40% to 70% search

success rates

We need help!

Traditionally search is based on:

Metadata

& what experts think we call (or should call)

things

Taxonomy

Result is still…

Objects often not found

Experts are not us!

Search Ecosystem

Objects created & metadata added

Metadata often incomplete

Metadata automated

Categories & expert tags applied pre-search

Information Across Horizontals

Div 1 Div 2 Div 3 Div 4

Marketing

Logistics

Packaging

Tag Augmented Social Search

InfoCloud Solutions, Inc. - 2010

What does your organization know?


What does your organization call things?


What do people in your organization call things?


What Is A Tag?


The “F” Word


Folksonomy


❖ Folksonomy is the result of personal free tagging of pages and objects for one's own retrieval

❖ The tagging is usually done in a social environment (shared and open to others)

❖ The act of tagging is done by the person consuming the information

Folksonomy: Definition


The value in this external tagging is derived from people using their own vocabulary and adding explicit meaning, which may come from inferred understanding of the information/object.

Folksonomy: Value

The value in this external tagging is derived from people using their own vocabulary and adding explicit meaning

People are not so much categorizing, as providing a means to connect items(placing hooks) to provide their meaning in their own understanding.


Every person is an expert in their own vocabulary (tags)


Every Tag is Sacred


Object Identity

Metadata

Interest

VocabularyDefinition

Folksonomy Triad


Object Identity

Metadata

Definition

Vocabulary

Terminology

Interest

Culture

Community

Dual Folksonomy Triad


Finding More Objects

Metadata

Object 1 Identity Object 2


Scaling and Functionality#

Peo

ple

Tagg

ing

Times Object is Tagged

A

A - Personal Use

B

B - SerendipityC C - Social Tagging

Mature

D

D - Complex Social System


Phases of Interaction❖ Saving and tagging ❖ Refinding ❖ Clicking, pivoting, exploring ❖ Searching

❖ One’s own tags❖ Other’s tags

❖ Group❖ Everybody

❖ Group Social Interaction


Personal to Social

Personal Serendipity Social Mature

Complex

Save & Tag

Refind

Pivot & Explore

Search

Group Interaction

X X X X

X X X X

X X X

X X

- X


Social Context

Personal - Social -❖ Capture ❖ Share

❖ Hook/Copy ❖ Point

❖ Annotate ❖ Collaborate

❖ Refind ❖ Filter

❖ Privacy ❖ Trusted Groups


Folksonomyvs.

Taxonomy


The Value of Tagging for Business


❖ Simple data/metadata externally applied to an object

❖ Used for sorting

❖ A hook for aggregating

❖ Provides identifier and/or description

❖ Personal markers

Tagging: Definition


Taxonomy Folksonomy

Business Employee

Object

Taxonomy vs. Folksonomy


Taxonomy Folksonomy

Taxonomy & Folksonomy


70% of Folksonomy tag terms not in Taxonomy

J. Trant regarding Steve.museum


Terms Around an Object

Taxonomy Folksonomy

- Ball- Sphere- Blue- #A6437

- Ball (89)- Circle (63)- Blue (23)- Orb (11)- Sphere (6)- Gradient (3)- ToBuy (3)- Darkblue (2)- Round (2)- … 26 more


Part #A6473 Terms

0

22.5

45.0

67.5

90.0

A6473

Distribution of TermsValidate

taxonomyor add totaxonomy Interest

& watch

Value inSynonyms &Unique views


Part #A6473 Terms

0

22.5

45.0

67.5

90.0

A6473

Distribution of TermsValidate

taxonomyor add totaxonomy Interest

& watch

Azure


Business Tensions

Naming control People’s vocabulary

In-house Outside service

$$$ w/ value $ w/ unknown value

Consistent Emergent

Sample groups Every perspective

Adjust Expectations

Search & Tag Ecosystem

Search

Find

Tag

When found, people hold onto objects by

tagging


perspective & context


Search improved w/ extended vocabulary


Search improved with more pointers to the

object


Takes as few as 1 or 2 people tagging to make a

difference


Much more than a tagcloud


2 Common Statements

Not enough people are using it

OMG! Pull the plug we have way too much info!


Solutions to comments


Semi-structured information to

structured


Disambiguation

❖ Spelling

❖ Word separations

❖ San Francisco

❖ SanFrancisco

❖ Multi-word terms

❖ Stemming

❖ e.g. Tag, tags, tagging


Facets


Filtering


Social search


Retrieval


Discovery


Social augmented search


Sharepoint 2010 Overview

Tagging in ‘Give Feedback’

Personal Tagging

Tag External Pages


Sharepoint 2010


Sharepoint 2010 Tagging❖ Advantages

❖ Folksonomy triad structure❖ Integrated into Sharepoint❖ Can be extended

❖ Disadvantages❖ Needs improved social interaction design❖ Surface others to follow w/ similar traits❖ Improve filtering❖ Options beyond tag clouds


Thank You!


Acknowledgements:- Christian Glessner of http://www.ilovesharepoint.com

Thanks to our Sponsors


Contact

URL: http://infocloudsolutions.comE-mail: [email protected]: [email protected]: vanderwalSkype: tjvanderwalTwitter: @vanderwal

Understanding Tagging and Folksonomy - SharePoint Saturday DC

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