德鲁克经典语录

①有效的管理者应该知道他们的时间用在什么地方；②有效的管理者应该注重对外界的贡献；③有效的管理者应该善于利用长处，包括自己的、上司的、同事的和下属的长处；④有效的管理者应该继红精力于少数重要的领域；⑤有效的管理者必须善于做有效的决策。

1.管理者有效性的基础：记录时间、管理时间、统一安排时间。

2.认清自己的时间用在什么地方才是起点；有效的管理者知道，如果要管理好自己的时间，首先应该知道自己的时间实际上是怎么耗用的。

3.每一位知识工作者，尤其是每一位管理者，要想有效就必须将时间做整块的运用，如果将时间分割开来零星使用，纵然总时间相同，结果时间也肯定不够用；人都是时间的消费者，而大多数人也是时间的浪费者。

4.许多有效的管理者都经常保留着一份自己的时间记录，每个月定期拿出来检讨。要有系统地管理时间，我们应该首先找出什么事根本不必做，什么事是做了也完全是浪费时间，无助于成果；哪些事是可以由别人代为参加而又不影响效果的。

5.人总是有一种倾向，高估自己地位的重要性，认为许多事非躬亲不可。纵然是最有效的管理者，任然免不了有许多不必要的和非生产性的工作。

6.一位管理者花费在会议上的时间如果过多，便是组织不健全的表

现。

7.时间如果能集中，即使只有一个工作日的1/4，也足以办理几件大事；反之，零零碎碎的时间，纵然总数有3/4个工作日，也会毫无用处。

8.一切卓有成效的管理者都懂得：对时间的控制与管理不能一劳永逸。他们要持续不断地做时间记录，定期对这些记录进行分析，还必须根据自己可以支配的时间的多少，给一些重要的活动钉鞋必须完成的期限。

9.时间是最稀有的资源，若不将时间管理好，要向管理好其他事就只是空谈。而分析自己的时间时间，也是系统地分析自己的工作，鉴别工作重要性的一种方法。

10.机构对成效的要求：直接成果、树立新的价值观念及对这些价值观的重新认识、培养鱼开发所需要的人才。

11.人都免不了一死，纵然他有再大的贡献，起贡献也因此有一定的限度。而一个组织，大体而言，正是克服这种限度的工具。组织如果不能持续存在就是失败。所以，一个组织必须今天准备明天的接班人，其人力资源必须更新，必须经常提高水准。

11.一个组织如果仅能维持今天的视野、今天的优点和今天的成就，它就一定会丧失适应力。世事沧桑，一切都在变。所以只满足于今天的企业，在变幻无常的明天就会感到难以生存下去。

12.对贡献的承诺就是对有效性的承诺。没有这项承诺，管理者就等于没有尽到自己的责任，这必将有损于其服务的组织，也必将有损于

与其共事的同事。

13.管理者的用人决策，不在于如何克服人的短处，而在于如何发挥人的长处。用人时老是坚持客观上不能达到的目标，或过多地强调别人的弱点，那纵然算不上是滥用，起码也是误用。

14.正直的品格本身并不一定能成就什么，但一个人如果缺乏正直和诚实，则足以败事。所以人在这方面的缺点，不能仅视为效绩的限制。有这种确定的人，没有资格做管理者。

15.主管对下属的工作负有责任，也掌握了下属前途发展的权利。用人之所长，不仅是有效性的要素，也是主管对下属的道义责任，是主管对其职权和地位的责任。专注于人之所短，不仅是愚不可及，更是有亏职守。尽量发挥下属的长处，不仅是管理者必须对机构承担的义务，更重要的是，这也是为人处事的道理：他应该协助下属得到应有的发展。组织必须为每一位成员服务，使每一位成员都能凭其才干达成成就，而不必顾念期所短。

16.用人之所长是卓有成效的管理者必须具备的一种素质，是一个组织工作是否有效的关键，也是知识工作者和社会不可或缺的素质。

17.运用上司的长处，也是下属工作有效的关键。只有如此，身为下属这才能将精力集中在自己的贡献上，完成自己想做的工作，取得希望取得的成就。要使上司有效其实不难，问题只在于理解上司的长处，知道上司能做些什么。只有重视上司的长处，使其弱点不产生影响，协助上司发挥起所长，是促使管理者有效的最好方法。

18.有效的管理者会顺应自己的个性特点，不会勉强自己。他注意的

是自己的绩效，自己的成果，从而发展出自己的工作方式。

19.一次只做好一件工作，恰恰就是加快工作速度的最佳方法。越能集中我们的时间、努力和资源，我们所能完成的工作也就越多。有效管理者对时间的估计宁可有余，而不可不足。一项决策如果不能付诸实践，就称不上真正的决策，最多只是一种良好的意愿。有效的决策虽然是以高层次的理性认识为基础，但决策的推行却必须尽可能地接近工作层面，必须力求简单。一位有效的决策者，第一步总是先从最高层次的观念去寻求解决方案。

20.好的决策，应以相互冲突的意见为基础，从不同的观点和不同的判断中选择。

 

第二篇：德鲁克积分

Edited by Foxit ReaderCopyright(C) by Foxit Software Company,2005-2007For Evaluation Only.

Folksonomies-CooperativeClassi?cationandCommunicationThroughSharedMetadata

AdamMathes

ComputerMediatedCommunication-LIS590CMC

GraduateSchoolofLibraryandInformationScience

UniversityofIllinoisUrbana-Champaign

December2004

Abstract

Thispaperexaminesuser-generatedmetadataasimplementedand

appliedintwowebservicesdesignedtoshareandorganizedigitalme-diatobetterunderstandgrassrootsclassi?cation.Metadata-dataaboutdata-allowssystemstocollocaterelatedinformation,andhelpsusers?ndrelevantinformation.Thecreationofmetadatahasgenerallybeenapproachedintwoways:professionalcreationandauthorcreation.Inli-brariesandotherorganizations,creatingmetadata,primarilyintheformofcatalogrecords,hastraditionallybeenthedomainofdedicatedprofes-sionalsworkingwithcomplex,detailedrulesetsandvocabularies.Theprimaryproblemwiththisapproachisscalabilityanditsimpracticalityforthevastamountsofcontentbeingproducedandused,especiallyontheWorldWideWeb.Theapparatusandtoolsbuiltaroundprofessionalcatalogingsystemsaregenerallytoocomplicatedforanyonewithoutspe-cializedtrainingandknowledge.Asecondapproachisformetadatatobecreatedbyauthors.Themovementtowardscreatordescribeddocu-mentswasheraldedbySGML,theWWW,andtheDublinCoreMetadataInitiative.Thereareproblemswiththisapproachaswell-oftenduetoinadequateorinaccuratedescription,oroutrightdeception.Thispaperexaminesathirdapproach:user-createdmetadata,whereusersofthedocumentsandmediacreatemetadatafortheirownindividualusethatisalsosharedthroughoutacommunity.

1TheCreationofMetadata:Professionals,Con-

tentCreators,Users

Metadataisoftencharacterizedas“dataaboutdata.”Metadataisinformation,oftenhighlystructured,aboutdocuments,books,articles,photographs,orotheritemsthatisdesignedtosupportspeci?cfunctions.Thesefunctionsareusually

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tofacilitatesomeorganizationandaccessofinformation.Administrative,struc-tural,anddescriptivemetadataarethreebroadcategoriesofmetadata(Taylor,2004).Thispaperfocusprimarilyondescriptivemetadatawhichidenti?esandfunctionstoorganizeinformationbasedonitsintellectualcontent.

Traditionallymetadataiscreatedbydedicatedprofessionals.Catalogerscreatemetadata,oftenintheformofMachine-ReadableCataloging(MARC)recordsforbooksandotherintellectualcreations,andthisisthebasisofmostOnlinePublicAccessCatalogs(OPAC)inlibrariesandotherinstitutions.Thisoftenrequiresseriouseducationandtraining.Thelibraryandinformationsci-ence?eldhasdevelopedelaboraterulesandschemesforcataloging,categoriza-tionandclassi?cationthatincludeclassi?cationschemessuchastheDeweyDecimalSystemandLibraryofCongressClassi?cationScheme,aswellaslargecontrolledvocabulariesoftermsfordescribingthesubjectofmaterials,suchastheLibraryofCongressSubjectHeadings.

Whileprofessionallycreatedmetadataareoftenconsideredofhighquality,itiscostlyintermsoftimeande?orttoproduce.Thismakesitverydi?culttoscaleandkeepupwiththevastamountsofnewcontentbeingproduced,especiallyinnewmediumsliketheWorldWideWeb.Analternativeisauthorcreatedmetadata.Originalcreatorsoftheintellectualmaterialprovidemeta-dataalongwiththeircreations.TheDublinCoreMetadataInitiativehasbeenusedwithsomesuccessinthisarea(Greenbergetal,2002).Authorcreatedmetadatamayhelpwiththescalabilityproblemsincomparisontoprofessionalmetadata,butbothapproachesshareabasicproblem:theintendedandunin-tendedeventualusersoftheinformationaredisconnectedfromtheprocess.Usercreatedmetadataisathirdapproach,andthispaperfocusesongrass-rootscommunityclassi?cationofdigitalassets.Otherformsofusercreatedmetadataareoftenimplicit.Citationanalysisisawellestablishedtechniqueusedtodeterminerelationshipsbetweenacademicworksandtheimpactofschol-ars.SimilaranalysisofthelinkstructureintheWorldWideWebisusedbythePageRankalgorithm,whichbecamethetheoreticalbasisfortheGooglesearchengine(Page,1998).Recommendationsystems,andthosethatemploycollab-orative?lteringareanotherformofleveragingimplicitusercreatedmetadata.(Lieberman,2002).

Oneformofexplicitusercreatedmetadatawaspopularizedinthelate1990’swithlink-focusedwebsitescalledweblogs(Blood2000).Thesesitesprovidelinkscombinedwithcommentary,andareaformofmostlyunstructured,butexplicit,usercreatedmetadata.CustomerreviewsonwebsitessuchasAmazon.comareanintegralaspectofonlinecommerce,andleveragesconsumercreatedmetadatatocreatesitesthatarefarmoreinformativethancomparablecommercialsites.2TaggingContentinDel.icio.usandFlickr

Del.icio.us(http://del.icio.us,henceforthreferredtoas“Delicious”)isatooltoorganizewebpages.Adescriptiononlinestatesitis:

“asocialbookmarksmanager.Itallowsyoutoeasilyaddsitesyouliketo

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yourpersonalcollectionoflinks,tocategorizethosesiteswithkeywords,andtoshareyourcollectionnotonlybetweenyourownbrowsersandmachines,butalsowithothers”(Schachter,2004)Deliciousisnotuniqueorpioneeringinitsroleasbookmarksmanager.Whatseemstoberelativelynewanddi?erentistheemphasisonuseraddedkeywordsasafundamentalorganizationalconstruct.Thesekeywords,whicharereferredtoas“tags”onthesite,allowuserstodescribeandorganizecontentwithanyvocabularytheychoose.

Tousethesystem,youmust?rstjoinbyregisteringanaccount.Thesystemisfreetojoinanduse.Onlyausername,fullname,andpasswordarerequired.Theuserthenaddsaspecializedbookmarktotheirwebbrowser.Whenbrows-ingawebpagetheywouldliketoaddtodelicious,theyselectthebookmark,andarepresentedwithaformthathasallowsthemtoenteranytagstheywanttoassociatewiththepage,andthensaveit.Thesetagsareoptional;userscananddousethesitewithouttaggingtheirdocuments.

Inadditiontoautomaticallygeneratedchronologicalorderingofbookmarkssavedtothesystem,thetagsareusedtocollocatebookmarkswithinauser’scol-lection.Additionally,thesetagsarealsousedtocollocatebookmarksacrosstheentiresystem,soforexample,lookingatthepagehttp://del.icio.us/tag/linuxwillshowallbookmarksthataretaggedwith“linux”byanyuser.

Flickr(http://www.?ickr.com),aphotomanagementandsharingwebap-plication,hasasimilarsystemoffree-formtaggingforphotosthatwasadoptedandmodeledafterDelicious.Ittoorequiresuserstocreateauseraccount,andisfreetojoin.Thereisalsotheoptiontopayforanaccountwithmorefeatures,likemorestoragespaceforphotographs.Flickro?ersasimilarbookmarktoaddphotographstothesystem,butalsohasanumberofotheroptionstouploadphotographstothesystemthroughwebpagesandsoftwareapplications.Tagscanbeaddedatthetimeofupload,orlaterintheprocesswhenthephotographsaredisplayedbythesystem.

Aprimarydi?erencebetweenDeliciousandFlickristhatwhilethetagsonDeliciousareprimarilyfromtheusersofwebdocumentsthatwerewrittenbyanotherparty,Flickrisprimarilyusedbyindividualstomanagetheirowndigitalimages,andthemajorityofthetagsareuserstaggingphotostheycreatedthemselves.Thisisnotabsolute;thesystemdoeshavetheoptionofallowingusersdesignatedasfriendsorfamilytotagausers’photos.Additionally,userscananddoenterimagesotherscreatedintothesystem,oftenfromwebsites.ThisuseofthesystemismuchmorelikeDelicious,butseemstobeasmallfractionoftheuse.

3FromTagstoFolksonomy

ThemostpopulartagsusedonDeliciousarelistedontherightsideofthefrontpage.Relatedtags,asdeterminedprogrammaticallybythesystem,arelistedontherightsideofindividualtagpages.TheorganicsystemoforganizationdevelopinginDeliciousandFlickrwascalleda“folksonomy”byThomasVander

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Walinadiscussiononaninformationarchitecturemailinglist(Smith,2004).Itisacombinationof“folk”and“taxonomy.”

Animportantaspectofafolksonomyisthatiscomprisedoftermsina?atnamespace:thatis,thereisnohierarchy,andnodirectlyspeci?edparent-childorsiblingrelationshipsbetweentheseterms.Thereare,however,automaticallygenerated“related”tags,whichclustertagsbasedoncommonURLs.Thisisunlikeformaltaxonomiesandclassi?cationschemeswheretherearemultiplekindofexplicitrelationshipsbetweenterms.Theserelationshipsincludethingslikebroader,narrower,aswellasrelatedterms.Thesefolksonomiesaresimplythesetoftermsthatagroupofuserstaggedcontentwith,theyarenotapredeterminedsetofclassi?cationtermsorlabels.

InDelicious,acursoryanalysisofthetagsrevealsthatthemostpopulartagsareprimarilysubjectdescriptorkeywordsatvariouslevelsofspeci?city.Someofthemostpopulartags(asofNovember14,2004)accordingtothesystemwere:“software,design,programming,music,politics,web,news,blog,css,linux,art,osx,java,mac,blogs,reference,fun,python,games,tech,photography,humor,tools,delicious,rss,?refox,toread,comics.”Manyofthesearetechnicalsubjecttagsre?ectingthecommoninterestsofatech-savvyuserbase,e.g.“rss,?refox,python,java,linux.”Somearebestdescribedasgenreorformdescriptors,like“comics,humor,fun,photography.”Atleastone,“toread,”issomethingquali-tativelydi?erent:itisatagapparentlyusedforself-organizationandreminder.Similarly,“wishlist”(http://del.icio.us/tag/wishlist)wasapparentlyusedbyanumberofuserstohighlightconsumeritemstheywereinterestedin.

The150mostpopulartagsonFlickraretabulatedandlistedonthesite.AsofNovember19,2004,thislistincludedmuchofwhatonemightexpectascommonsubjectsofphotos:cat,friends,dogsky,sea,park,kids,garden,baby,building,?ower,?owerssigns,sculpture,city,vacation.Over25%(41outof150)ofthetagswereproperplacenameslikecitiesorcountries.Colorswerelisted:yellow,green,blue,pink,orange,white,red.Yearswerealsopopularastags,2001,2002,2003and2004werepresentamongstthemostpopular.

Sometermsthathaveparticularmeaninginthephotographicdomainlikeportrait,macro,landscape,blackandwhitewereincluded.Theterms“camer-aphone,moblog,fotolog”re?ecttheuseofrelativelynewwords,andthecon-nectionthesitehastotechsavvyearlyadoptersofintegratedcameraphonetechnologyandweblogsfocusedonphotographs.

Twotagsofparticularinterestare“cute,”and“me.”Thiswillbeelaborateduponlater,butIthinkthesetwotermsre?ectthedualnatureofthesesystems:thecompulsiontoshare-whatistheInternetifnotavenueforsharingcutephotographs?-andconverselytheimportanceofindividualityandegoforthesesystemstowork.

Overall,althoughtheterm“classi?cation”isoftenusedinrelationtothesesystems,andhasbeenusedinthispaper,whatisgoingonismorelike“catego-rization.”Categorizationisgenerallylessrigorousandboundariesarelessclear.Itisbasedmoreonasynthesisofsimilaritythanasystematicarrangementofmaterials(Jacob2004).Mostimportantly,eachdocumentcanhavemanytermsassociatedwithit.Bycontrast,classi?cationschemesgenerallyfocusonpro-

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vidingasingleclassi?cationtoanitem,andareveryhierarchicalandhaveclearrelations.Inafolksonomythesetoftermsisa?atnamespace:therearenoclearlyde?nedrelationsbetweenthetermsinthevocabulary.

3.1Limitations

Theproblemsinherentinanuncontrolledvocabularyleadtoanumberoflim-itationsandweaknessesinfolksonomies.Ambiguityofthetagscanemergeasusersapplythesametagindi?erentways.Attheoppositeendofthespectrum,thelackofsynonymcontrolcanleadtodi?erenttagsbeingusedforthesameconcept,precludingcollocation.

3.2Ambiguity

Asanuncontrolledvocabularythatissharedacrossanentiresystem,thetermsinafolksonomyhaveinherentambiguityasdi?erentusersapplytermstodoc-umentsindi?erentways.Therearenoexplicitsystematicguidelinesandnoscopenotes.Forexample,itemstaggedwith“?ltering”onDeliciousincludedthefollowing:

?Last.FM-Yourpersonalmusicnetwork-Personalizedonlineradiostation?InfoWorld:Collaborativeknowledgegardening

?Wired12.10:TheLongTail

?OhMyGodItBurns!“PracticalApplicationsofthePhilosopher’sstone.Fordrunks.Brita?ltermakesbadvodkaintogoodvodka

?IntroductiontoBayesianFiltering

Theseareall“?ltering,”butinverydi?erentsenses.Usingwater?lterstopurifyvodkaisaverydi?erentsubjectthanBayesianstatisticalanalysis.

Acronymspresentanotherareaofpotentialambiguitythatareoftendealtwithe?ectivelyincontrolledvocabularies.ExaminingthefrontpageonNovem-ber14,2004revealedoneusertaggingsiteswith“ANT.”AfterexaminingtheothersitestheusertaggedwithANT,itwasapparentthiswasanacronymfor“ActorNetworkTheory,”inthedomainofsociology.However,whenexaminingtheANTtagacrossallusers(Deliciousapparentlyisnotcasesensitiveintags)mostofthebookmarkswereaboutApacheAnt,aprojectbuildingtoolintheJavaprogramminglanguage.Twocompletelyseparatedomainsandideasaremixedtogetherinthesametag.

3.3Spaces,MultipleWords

BothDeliciousandFlickrseemdesignedprimarilytodealwithsinglewords.Deliciousdoesnotallowspacesintagnames,althoughFlickrdoes.Insomeinstances,multiplewordsareusedtogetherinasingletag,withoutspaces,

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i.e.,vertigovideostillsbbc’onFlickr.Attimesthiscanre?ectuserstryingtoputahierarchyintoasingletag,orsimplyre?ectsacategorythathasmulti-pleterms,suchasdesign/css’onDelicious.(http://del.icio.us/tag/design/css.)Bothsystemsignorelettercase,whichmaycollapsedistinctideasintoasingletag,especiallywithacronyms.

3.4Synonyms

Thereisnosynonymcontrolinthesystem.Thisleadstotagsthatseeminglyhavesimilarintendedmeanings,like“mac,”“macintosh,”and“apple”allbeingusedtodescribematerialsrelatedtoAppleMacintoshcomputers.Di?erentwordforms,pluralandsingular,arealsooftenbothpresent.InthisparticularsituationwiththeseMacintoshtags,the“relatedtags”sidebarofDeliciousinterlinksallthreeofthesecategoriesautomatically.Pluralvs.singularisoftenaproblem,asseeninthepopulartagsonFlickr,both“?ower”and“?owers”werelisted.

Thesesortsofproblemsarethereasonswhycontrolledvocabulariesareusedinmanysettings.Generally,anyoftheclassicproblemsthatcontrolledvocabularieshelpdealwithwillbepresentinthesesystemstovaryingdegrees.However,itislikelythatacontrolledvocabularywouldbeimpossibleinthecontextofsystemslikeDeliciousandFlickr.

3.5Strengths

Althoughafolksonomyisnotacontrolledvocabulary,andcertainlydoeshavelimitations,thereareimportantstrengthsthatareimportanttounderstandingtheappealandutilityofsuchsystems.

3.6Browsingvs.Finding

The?rstisserendipity.Whilethecontrolledvocabularyissuesdiscussedabovemayhamper?ndability,browsingthesystemanditsinterlinkedrelatedtagsetsiswonderfulfor?ndingthingsunexpectedlyinageneralarea.Inresearchingthispaper,exploringthebookmarkstaggedwith“folksonomy”onDelicious,thereweremanyrecentresourcesfromawidevarietyofauthorsandsitesthatIlikelywouldneverhavebeenexposedto.

Thereisafundamentaldi?erenceintheactivitiesofbrowsingto?ndin-terestingcontent,asopposedtodirectsearchingto?ndrelevantdocumentsinaquery.Itissimilartothedi?erencebetweenexploringaproblemspacetoformulatequestions,asopposedtoactuallylookingforanswerstospeci?callyformulatedquestions.Informationseekingbehaviorvariesbasedoncontext.WhileonecouldevaluateafolksonomyinasystemlikeDeliciousorFlickrbyusingspeci?cqueriesfromusers,andthenevaluatingwhichdocumentstaggedwithkeywordstheychoosearerelevanttothequery,thatwouldignorethebroadersetofbrowsingactivitiesthatthesystemseemstobestrongerin.Mea-suringtheutilityofthataspectwouldlikelyrequirequalitativeresearchinthe

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formofinterviewsorethnographicstudyofusers,andisanareaoffurtherstudy.Itwouldalsorequirecomparisonsnottosearchbasedinformationretrievalsys-tems,buttobrowsingactivitiesusingothercategorizationandclassi?cationschemes.

3.7DesireLines

Perhapsthemostimportantstrengthofafolksonomyisthatitdirectlyre?ectsthevocabularyofusers.Inaninformationretrievalsystem,thereareatleasttwo,andpossiblymanymorevocabulariespresent(Buckland,1999).Thesecouldincludethatoftheuserofthesystem,thedesignerofthesystem,theauthorofthematerial,thecreatorsoftheclassi?cationscheme;translatingbetweenthesevocabulariesisoftenadi?cultandde?ningissueininformationsystems.Asdiscussedearlier,afolksonomyrepresentsafundamentalshiftinthatitisderivednotfromprofessionalsorcontentcreators,butfromtheusersofinformationanddocuments.Inthisway,itdirectlyre?ectstheirchoicesindiction,terminology,andprecision.

Someclassi?cationschemesaredisjointfromthevocabularyoftheusers.In“MetadatafortheMasses,”PeterMerholzarguesthatafolksonomycanbequiteusefulinthatitrevealsthedigitalequivalentof“desirelines”(Merholz,2004).Desirelinesarethefoot-wornpathsthatsometimesappearinalandscapeovertime.Merholznotes,“Asmartlandscapedesignerwillletwandererscreatepathsthroughuse,andthenpavetheemergingwalkways,ensuringoptimalutility.Ethnoclassi?cationsystemscansimilarlyemerge.’Onceyouhaveapreliminarysysteminplace,youcanusethemostcommontagstodevelopacontrolledvocabularythattrulyspeakstheusers’language.”

Merholzrecommendsusingafolksonomyasthestartofprofessionallyde-signedcontrolledvocabularies.Whilethismaynotbepracticalordesirableinmanysituations,thefundamentalpointisthatthevocabularyofusersmaysimplybetoodi?erentfromtheotherpartiestoadequately“pavethepaths”inadvance.Anotherimportantpointmaybethatthetermsuserswanttousemovetooquickly,orarequalitativelydi?erentthanauthorsorsystemsdesign-ers.

Merholz’sownpieceprovidesanexcellentexample.Merholzdoesnotusetheterm“folksonomy.”Hehaswrittenonhispersonalwebsitethatthetermisinaccurateduetoitsderivationfrom“taxonomy,”whichhearguestendtowardshierarchyandcontrol.(Merholz,2004)(SeealsoTaylor,2004,fordiscussionsofproblemsanddisputeswiththeterm“taxonomy.”)Merholzpreferstheterm“ethnoclassi?cation,”whichiswhatheusesinhisarticle,andthereisnomentionof“folksonomy”tobefound.Ethnoclassi?cationisalsoinaccurate,becauseasdiscussed,whatishappeningisquiteunlikeclassi?cationandfarmorelikecategorization.

DespiteMerholz’spersonalpreferenceasauthor,hispieceistaggedonDeli-ciouswithboth“ethnoclassi?cation”and“folksonomy,”aswellasvariousothertagsincluding“userexperience,”“tagging,”“taxonomy,”“metadata,”“social-software,”and“facets.”Thetagsre?ectnottheauthor’svocabulary,orany

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particularclassi?cationorcategorizationsystem’svocabulary,butthelanguageandvocabularythatindividualuserschoosetodescribethearticlewith.

AlthoughtheDelicioustagsonMerholz’sarticleareonlyoneexample,afolksonomy,withitsuncontrollednatureandorganicgrowth,hasthecapabilitytoadaptveryquicklytouservocabularychangesandneeds.Thereisnosig-ni?cantcostforauserorforthesystemtoaddnewtermstothefolksonomy.Theproblemisthatwhilethedisparateuservocabulariesandtermsenablesomeveryinterestingbrowsingand?nding,thesheermultiplicityoftermsandvocabulariesmayoverwhelmthecontentwithnoisymetadatathatisnotusefulorrelevanttoauser.

4WhyFolksonomiesWork

Itisdi?culttode?neametricbywhichonecouldarguefolksonomiesareasuccessorfailure,butthedegreethatitdoesseemtobee?ectiveinthesesystemsasawayororganizinginformation,andthatalargegroupofpeopleareusingthesesystems,Iposit,isduetoafewimportantfactors.Theoverallcostsforusersofthesystemintermsoftimeande?ortarefarlowerthansystemsthatrelyoncomplexhierarchalclassi?cationandcategorizationschemes.Inadditiontothisstructuraldi?erence,thecontextoftheuseinthesesystemsisnotjustoneofpersonalorganization,butofcommunicationandsharing.Thenearinstantfeedbackinthesesystemsleadstoacommunicativenatureoftaguse.

4.1BarrierstoEntry,CognitiveCosts

Theconceptualshiftfromprofessional,designed,clearlyde?nedcategorizationandclassi?cationschemestoanad-hocsetofkeywordsenablesusersnotjustprofessionalswithoutanytrainingorpreviousknowledgetoparticipateinthesystemimmediately.Additionally,participatingisfareasierintermsoftime,e?ortandcognitivecosts.

StewartButter?eld,oneofthecreatorsofFlickr,arguesthatthedi?erenceincomplexitybetweenfolksonomiesandclassi?cationschemesisimportant:“Aside:Ithinkthelackofhierarchy,synonymcontrolandsemanticprecisionarepreciselywhyitworks.Freetypinglooseassociationsisjustaloteasierthanmakingadecisionaboutthedegreeofmatchtoapre-de?nedcategory(especiallyhierarchicalones).It’slike90%ofthevalueofaproper’taxonomybut10timessimpler.”(Butter?eld,2004)

ManyprofessionalswouldlikelyarguethatButter?eld’sassessmentof90%and“10timessimpler”isvastlyoverstated,hisfundamentalpointholdstrue:non-trivialandimportantmetadataarecapturedthroughthesefolksonomies.Thecomparisonsarealmostirrelevantasitwouldbeimpossibletogettheusersofthesesystemstouseacomplex,hierarchical,controlledvocabulary.Thebarriersaresimplytoohigh.Asystemthattriedtocapturethatfullvalue

8

wouldcosttoomuchinusertime,e?ort,andcognitivecost,andthushavelittlevalueinpractice.

4.2FeedbackandAsymmetricCommunication

JonUdell(2004)arguesthattheideaofabandoningtaxonomyinfavoroflistsofkeywordsisnotnew,andthatthefundamentaldi?erenceinthesesystemsisfeedback.

“Ofcourse,thatidea’sbeenaroundfordecades,sowhat’sspecialaboutFlickranddel.icio.us?Sometimesadi?erenceindegreebecomesadi?erenceinkind.Thedegreetowhichthesesystemsbindtheassignmentoftagstotheiruse-inatightfeedbackloop-isthatkindofdi?erence.

Feedbackisimmediate.Assoonasyouassignatagtoanitem,youseetheclusterofitemscarryingthesametag.Ifthat’snotwhatyouexpected,you’regivenincentivetochangethetagoraddanother.Ifyouritemsaren’tcon?-dentialandonline-onlyaccessissu?cient,thiscanbeagreatwaytomanagepersonalinformation.Buttherealpoweremergeswhenyouexpandthescopetoincludeallitems,fromallusers,thatmatchyourtag.Again,thatviewmightnotbewhatyouexpected.Inthatcase,youcanadapttothegroupnorm,keepyourtaginabidtoin?uencethegroupnorm,orboth.”(Udell,2004)

Thistightfeedbackloopleadstoaformofasymmetricalcommunicationbetweenusersthroughmetadata.Theusersofasystemarenegotiatingthemeaningofthetermsinthefolksonomy,whetherpurposefullyornot,throughtheirindividualchoicesoftagstodescribedocumentsforthemselves.

Therearetwomodelstodescribewhatishappeninghere:onethatfocusesonindividualincentives,andonethatfocusesoncommunityaspects.

4.3IndividualandCommunityAspects

BothDeliciousandFlickrareusedbyindividualstoorganizematerialswiththeirownvocabularyofterms.Individualshaveanincentivetotagtheirma-terialswithtermsthatwillhelpthemorganizetheircollectionsinawaythattheycan?ndtheseitemslater.Theorganizationalschemethatemergesforeachindividualre?ectstheirindividualinformationneeds.Thepopularityofthe“me”tagonFlickrperhapsbestre?ectsthisaspectofafolksonomy,aswellasthe“toread”tagonDelicious.Bothcanreallyonlybeunderstoodinthecontextofanindividualuser.

Conversely,bothDeliciousandFlickrareservicesdesignedtosharemateri-als.Theindividualorganizationalbehaviortakesplaceinapublicvirtualspaceonthesewebsites.Thereforethebehavioroftheuserscanalsobethoughtofasbeingin?uencedandrelatedtotheirrelationshiptotheotherindividualsusingtheservice,andspeci?cgroupsofuserswhotheysharetagusewith.Itisperhapshardertojustifythismodelsimplyfromexaminationofthetagsused,butthereisde?nitelyevidenceofcommunicationandperhapsevencommunityformationthroughmetadata,whichwillbediscussedlater.

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Afolksonomylowersthebarrierstocooperation.Groupsofusersdonothave

toagreeonahierarchyoftagsordetailedtaxonomy,theyonlyneedtoagree,

inageneralsense,onthe“meaning”ofatagenoughtolabelsimilarmaterial

withtermsfortheretobecooperationandsharedvalue.Althoughthismay

requireachangeinvocabularyforsomeusers,itisneverforced,andasUdell

discussed,thetightfeedbackloopprovidesincentivesforthiscooperation.

Finally,thereisthecompulsiontoshareingeneralthatunderliesthese

systems.Theveryactofuserself-selectingwhattotagisimportant:thisisnot

justmaterialthatuserswantto?ndthemselveslater,butalsomaterialtheyare

sharingwithothers.Bothsystemshaveanexplicitkindofsocialnetworking

componentbuilt-in:Flickrallowsyoutospecifyotherusersascontacts,friends,

orfamilyandseeviewsofjusttheirmaterial;Deliciousallowsyouto“subscribe”

tootheruserslists.

Thesetwomodels,communityandindividualmotivations,arenotmutually

exclusive,anditislikelybotharenecessarytoexplainafolksonomyinthe

contextoftheseservices.Anareaoffurtherqualitativeanalysiscouldhelpto

determinehowmucheachofthesetheoriesappliestoactualuserbehavior.

4.4UnanticipatedUses

WhilethefolksonomiesthatdevelopedatFlickrandDelicioushaveade?nite

focusonsubjectcategorization,therearetagsbeingusedinsomeunexpected,

interestingwaysthatre?ectcommunicationandad-hocgroupformationfacili-

tatedthroughmetadata.

Flickr’s“sometaithurts”-for“sometaithurts”isacollectionofimagesre-

gardingFlickr,andpeopleusingFlickr.(http://www.?ickr.com/photos/tags/sometaithurts/)Theearliestimageisofsomeonediscussingsocialsoftware,andthensubsequent

userspostingscreenshotsofthatpicturewithinFlickr,andothersimilarlyself-

referentialimages.Thereferentialandmetanatureoftheimagescontinuesas

userstookpicturesofimagesonFlickr,etc.Althoughthisisaplayfulexample,

itisauseoftagsascommunicativetool.Onlybytaggingtheirphotographwith

“sometaithurts”couldauserofthesystemjointhephotographicconversation.

Conversely,theonlywaytofollowtheconversationwasthroughthesystems

automatedcollocatingofliketaggeditems.

AuseronFlickr,AndrewLowosky,beganpostingpicturesofdoorbellsin

Florence,alongwithabriefpieceof?ctionaboutthedoorbellinthedescription

ofthephotograph.Hedubbedthiscombinationofphotographandshortstory

“?icktion,”andtaggeditassuch.(Lowosky,2004.)Someotherusershavebeen

taggingphotographswith“?icktion”andwritingshort?ctiontoaccompanyit,

althoughasofNovember19,2004,therewereonlythreeotherusers.Although

small,thereisaquickformationofnewtermstodescribewhatisgoingon,and

othersadoptingthattermandtheactivityitdescribes.

ExaminingallphotosinFlickrtaggedwith“iraq”includesphotographs

Iraq,UStroopsinIraq,aswellasphotographsofwarprotests.Althoughthis

maynotbeacommunity,whatweareseeingisagroupofpeoplehelpingto

de?neatermwiththeirphotographsandmetadata.

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55.1AreasForFurtherResearchQuantitativeTagAnalysis

Examiningthequantitativeaspectsoffolksonomiesisanareathatcouldyieldsomeinterestingdataonthemakeupanduseofthetermsusedtodescribeitems.Oneareatoexamineisthedistributionoftaguse:Ihypothesizethatitfollowsapowerlawscenario.Thatis,themostusedtagsaremorelikelytobeusedbyotheruserssincetheyaremorelikelytobeseen,andthustherewillbeafewtagsthatareusedbyasubstantialnumberofusers,thenanorderofmagnitudemoretagsthatareusedbyfewerusers,andanotherorderofmagnitudemoreusedbyonlyahandfulofusers.Examiningthissortofdistributionoftagusecouldgiveabetterindicationofwhetherafolksonomyconvergesontermsandfosterconsensus,orifastheuserbasedgrowsthevocabularygrowsatamoreevenrate,andthedistributionofterms?attens,perhapsindicatinglessagreement.

5.2QualitativeUserAnalysis

Examininguserbehaviorthroughethnographicobservationorinterviewtoun-derstandusermotivationsandcognitiveprocessesintaggingitemswouldclarifywhatfactorsdirectlyin?uencetheformationofafolksonomy,andhowindividualincentivesandgroupcommunicationmotivationsin?uenceuseofthesystem.Althoughitseemsthatsomeusersareintendingtofacilitatecommunicationthroughtaguse,especiallyintheunintendeduses,interviewscouldmakethispointexplicit.Interviewscouldalsoelucidatetheconsciousintentionsofusersin“normal”useofthesystem,whichismuchhardertoobservesimplyfromthedocumentsandtagsthemselves.Otherbehaviorthatwouldbehelpfultoobserveisthefrequencywithwhichusersmodifyorchangetheirtags,orfuturetaggingbehaviorbasedontheimplicitfeedbackfromthesystemintheformofwhatotherdocumentsaretaggedwithaterm.

5.3Applicabilitytoothersystems

DeliciousandFlickrarelargewebservicesdesignedtoorganizeandsharedigi-talworks.Theapplicabilityofusergeneratedfree-formtaggingasanorganiza-tionalconstructinothercontextsbearsfurtherinvestigation.Oneinterestingareawouldbetosystemswherethereisalreadyanexistingsocialnetworkandexaminehowthisrelatedtothesystem.Acorporateintranet,orasysteminanacademicsettingusedbyadepartment’sfacultyandstudents.

Theuseofafolksonomytosupplementexistingclassi?cationschemesandprovideadditionalaccesstomaterialsbyencouragingandleveragingexplicitusermetadatacontributionsisapossibleareaforresearchandfurtherdevel-opmentininformationretrievalsystems.Ifinformationretrievalsystemsbegintoincorporateuser-centeredinformationmanagementtools,theorganizational

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schemesdevelopedbytheusershavethepossibilitytobeofgreatinterestto

otherusersandimprovethesystems.

6ConclusionAfolksonomyrepresentssimultaneouslysomeofthebestandworstintheorga-

nizationofinformation.Itsuncontrollednatureisfundamentallychaotic,suf-

fersfromproblemsofimprecisionandambiguitythatwelldevelopedcontrolled

vocabulariesandnameauthoritiese?ectivelyameliorate.Conversely,systems

employingfree-formtaggingthatareencouraginguserstoorganizeinformation

intheirownwaysaresupremelyresponsivetouserneedsandvocabularies,and

involvetheusersofinformationactivelyintheorganizationalsystem.Overall,

transformingthecreationofexplicitmetadataforresourcesfromanisolated,

professionalactivityintoashared,communicativeactivitybyusersisanim-

portantdevelopmentthatshouldbeexploredandconsideredforfuturesystems

development.

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