Folksonomies: Tidying up Tags looks at what makes folksonomies work. They suggest that tags are no replacement for a formal classification systems, but they see this as being the core quality that makes tagging so useful. They look at the common problem of “sloppy tags”, and ask if the folksonomy community could offset problems by creating systems that are better suited to searching, sorting and classifying. It’s good to see that folksonomies are evolving and that people are starting to ask questions about the best ways to refine them to make them even more useful than they already are.
This is a sign that a given technology or standard is really gaining traction and I think it’s a healthy thing. Interesting article– you’ll want to take a look at it if you’ve ever used Del.icio.us.
