Collaborative Tagging Systems

Scott Golder and Bernardo A. Huberman of the HP Labs have written an article that explores collaborative tagging systems (AKA "folksonomies") vis a vis taxonomies using data from the Del.icio.us web site. To quote:

"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 dynamical aspects."