[Sigia-l] tagging versus taxonomy

[Chad Fennell]

> > a tag is just one tag
>
> Well, like everything else in life, neither tags nor taxonomies live in a
> contextual vacuum. The minute I tag something as, say, "#FF0000," do I not
> also implicitly tag it as a "color"? Further:
>
> #FF0000
>     color
>         HTML color name
>             red
>                 web safe color
>
> For a web designer, doesn't a single six-digit alpha-numeric tag (#FF0000)
> already come with its own inherent/implicit tag structure?
>
> Whereas, say, another RGB value captured as a tag might imply a whole set of
> other implicit connotations/tags in another industry like fashion.
>
> IOW, tags usually stand in abstraction only in our minds, but immediately
> compounded by the context in any given usage environment, no?
>


Indeed.  And there exist other connecting points.  The BBC actually
takes the step of harvesting tags into a formalized CV (From Louis
Rosenfeld's blog):

"A compromise solution (known as the metadata threshold) allows for
free-text tagging that is absorbed into formal CVs when enough content
is tagged with that term. The solution aims to combine cheap and
responsive tagging with unambiguous aggregation power."

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000330.html

A taxonomy that flexibly absorbs emergent trends in classification,
how lovely.  It's representative democracy for folksonomistas.

-Chad