Beneath the Metadata: Some Philosophical Problems with Folksonomy

This interesting article from D-Lib, discusses the inherent problems with using tags or folksonomies to categorize resources. The author bases the analysis on philosophical principles regarding relativism and categorization. I think that current technology might be able to provide a solution to the problems illustrated. Could not an algorithm be devised that analyzes the tags applies by readers to a given resource. Then, in effect, the algorithm would perform authority control on the tags that are used to “officially” describe the item. The reader could maintain his or her individual tags, but the tags used as “subject headings” in a catalog for instance would only be those that were agreed upon by the majority of readers. A type of “see reference” could be devised for non-standard tags.

Beneath the Metadata: Some Philosophical Problems with Folksonomy