Thing 10: Tagging and Delicious

Tagging

I’ve been tagging (or labeling) my blog posts since the beginning, and as a cataloger I can definitely see the usefulness of tagging.  I do like the idea of using natural language tags rather than a controlled vocabulary system like Library of Congress Subject Headings.  You avoid the problem of having to use the term “Cookery” when all your patrons are searching for “Cookbooks.”  However, I am a cataloger who likes things to be very orderly and consistent.  I am also a human who realizes that even though I like things to be orderly and consistent, I, myself, am not always consistent and other humans are not always consistent with themselves, let alone with each other.  Thus the problem of using natural language tags arises:  some people will tag a book of recipes as “cookbooks,” some as “cookbook,” some as “cook books,” some as “cook book,” some as “recipe book,” some as “recipes,” and the list goes on, potentially forever.  Then, instead of bringing like things together, we’re creating lots of different groups of like things, and then you need to group the groups.  Of course, if I’m being honest, this happens even with cataloger using a controlled vocabulary, because we are, after all, only human.  I admit, though, to “a foolish insistence on consistency” being a “hobgoblin” of my “little mind.”

Delicious

I admit I wasn’t that excited about Delicious.  I watched the Common Craft Show on social bookmarking, I looked at NEFLIN’s Delicious account, I looked at tags, and I read notes that others had written about certain sites, and I still wasn’t that excited about Delicious.  Then I created my own Delicious account, and suddenly, it was very cool! 

First I tried importing my bookmarks from my browser, which I was able to do with no problem.  Then I realized that I not only imported my bookmarks, but also tons of bookmarks that were not really mine, but instead were just defaults that came with the browser.  Then I had to try to delete the ones that I didn’t want, but there were too many to go through.  So I thought I would just delete them all and add my bookmarks one at a time since there weren’t really that many.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to do that, and I ended up deleting them in batches of 10 at a time which was still time consuming but not as time consuming as deleting them one at a time.

Finally, I was able to start fresh.  I added bookmarks to my Delicious account and tagged them all (hopefully consistently...I tried).  I also added a Delicious network badge to my blog.  I had a little bit of trouble with that.  I couldn’t get the html code to copy and paste, so I ended up typing it in myself, which was no big deal since it was pretty short.  I’m a little bit sad that I don’t have any “fans” yet, but maybe I’ll get some soon.

I think Delicious can certainly be a useful tool, both for me personally and for my library.  Like many things, though, all it takes is time which is in short supply.  I think it can be useful even without having your own account, though, so maybe that’s the solution for the time being.  We can use it in the library to help locate sites on specific topics that others who have more time than we do have already bookmarked and tagged for us.  Thanks!