Thing 14 - Explore Technorati & learn how tags work with blog posts
So in going into Technorati and searching "School Library Learning 2.0" under blogs and then under tags, it makes sense that there were more hits under blog searching than tags. Not everyone has created tags for their blogs, so it stands to reason the only blog posts that would come up in the search would be those people who tagged their posts. It also stands to reason that the posts that we find would be for later weeks (after this particular lesson). So that's that.
As far as checking out most popular blogs, searches and tags, it takes me back to earlier posts, where I find it almost overwhelming to be presented with large amounts of information that I am just unable to absorb right now. Maybe it's because the amount of reading that I have to do for my course work is pretty substantial and finding the relevancy of some of these blogs seems to require a lot of reading. I think I'd much prefer to read a book!
As far as tags go, I think they're great. Using a natural language to search as opposed to controlled vocabulary puts the power driving the searching in the hands of the user not the creator of the data structure. Tags create a whole new way of organizing and finding information that makes more sense to users of the data structure.
The downside is of course because there is no controlled vocabulary being used, there will always be information that users may never see if they search with the wrong tag.
In terms of being able to organize one's own information though once it's collected, I think tags make information organization much easier.
SJLibrary2.0
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I love tagging too, and it's so very personal. I have seen my tag cloud at del.icio.us grow so big, but these tags are what I want to use to remember where I have been and want to go back to. Del.icio.us can be social, but it is very personal to me.
It has been interesting this week trying to convince 9th graders how to search our library OPAC effectively for World War II resources. Some of them never want to listen or be convinced how to do it, and some have that "a hah!" moment when they find a lot of information. Having a controlled language helps, but I hope we can get to the place we can have both. I know it's possible, we just don't all have it yet.
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