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Usage patterns of collaborative tagging systems

J. Inf. Sci., Vol. 32, No. 2. (1 April 2006), pp. 198-208.

X Abstract

Collaborative tagging describes the process by which many users add metadata in the form of keywords to shared content. Recently, collaborative tagging has grown in popularity on the web, on sites that allow users to tag bookmarks, photographs and other content. In this paper we analyze the structure of collaborative tagging systems as well as their dynamic aspects. Specifically, we discovered regularities in user activity, tag frequencies, kinds of tags used, bursts of popularity in bookmarking and a remarkable stability in the relative proportions of tags within a given URL. We also present a dynamic model of collaborative tagging that predicts these stable patterns and relates them to imitation and shared knowledge.

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This article has been bookmarked 166 times, initially on 2006-07-05.

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Well written article. A good macroscopic look at patterns in tags as exhibited in delicious. Based on a friday-to-sunday crawl in June 05. Sampling is reflects users active at that moment. Perhaps the main finding is that the distribution of tags for a given URL stabilizes à la Polya's urn after about 100 bookmarkings. Also lists 7 kinds of tags, of which one is subjective (qualities like funny) and two are relevant to personal use (self-ref: mycomments; task organizing: toread).

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The full version of "The Structure of Collaborative Tagging Systems"

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TOPIC: overview of tag usage on del.icio.us

1) distribution of tags for a URL is pretty stable after only 100 bookmarks

2) number of different tags used varies greatly across users

3) more general and more common tags occur closer to front of list

4) even personal tags (like "toread") are publicly valuable

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find pdf

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