So, let's talk about tagging, user‐defined/supplied descriptors … A research and curricular agenda

Abstract

AbstractAs Ellyssa Kroski (Kroski, 2005) so correctly describes, “there is a revolution happening on the Internet that is alive and building momentum with each passing tag”, a revolution that, like the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW), has the potential to change the traditional ways that information is organized, found, and used. Information science professionals have long understood that good metadata shrinks the chasm between user and resource. Tagging (or metadata creation by the user) is bringing people and information together in a revolutionary fashion. Putting metadata creation into the hands of users enables users to browse for desired topics without needing to know an often outdated, Anglo‐centric controlled vocabulary that librarians and users alike do not always know or understand. However, like the early emergence and development of the Internet and WWW, this potential might not currently be informed by library and information science research, practice, or even involvement. Will this be another case where LIS researchers and professionals might feel “left behind” or “out of the loop”? Is there a role for information science professionals to educate and inform the use of folksonomies and tagging so that, in this vast world of digital information, users are even more connected with useful information, whether it be recreational, scholarly, or social?