This has been the most thought-provoking Thing so far. My first provoked thought: why is it written as "del.icio.us" everywhere I see it, while the site itself and url simply read "delicious"?The tagging concept gets more and more interesting to me. Tagging as an alternative to folders ... the whole concept of "folders" has long been embedded in our lives in so many ways; to keep things organized one separates them into different categories. If you have lots of things, you can have sub-categories and sub-sub-categories. This applies to everything from a file cabinet to LCSH to the grocery store to my bedroom dresser. (Well, maybe not my dresser). Tagging takes conventional organizational approaches using categories and hierarchies and turns it on it's head. Obviously this approach can only be applied in the online world. (If only I could tag things physically maybe I could find all those missing socks!)
With tagging I also like the potential for faceted searching. Newer versions of online catalogs use LCSH and other record elements to accomplish this, but LCSH, with it's hierarchical structure, wasn't designed to be used this way.
The obvious downside to tagging is the lack of standards and controlled vocabulary leading to inconsistency in application. But the concept in itself doesn't seem to preclude standards. It's with social bookmarking that we add other layers to the tagging approach where the usefulness of informal folksonomies becomes apparent. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around all the other advantages and disadvantages. One additional advantage, as I read in one of the linked articles, is that tagging the same resource by many people can lead an information seeker in directions he or she may not have thought of.
I'm aware of the discussions going on about allowing patrons to tag records for titles in the library catalog. I don't know what the answer is, but I do think librarians should at least consider the idea. I personally would love to do some "professional tagging" (is that an oxymoron?) simply because LCSH makes me want to gag. At minimum, we should allow patrons to tag resources on their own library page - "my library" or whatever - to keep track of resources of interest to them.
I'm excited about using del.icio.us. I had heard of it but had no idea it offered so much. I also spent some time looking at citeulike for organizing online academic papers. It's seems relatively new and undeveloped but I see great potential and I plan to use it.
I have so much to say on this topic and could continue writing. But time is running out on the 23 Things, and I want my prize! So I will move on.
