Influences on tag choices in del.icio.us

Collaborative tagging systems have the potential to produce socially constructed information organization schemes. The effectiveness of tags for finding and re-finding information depends upon how individual users choose tags; however, influences on users' tag choices are poorly understood. We quantitatively test competing hypotheses from the literature concerning these choices, using data from del.icio.us (a collaborative tagging system for organizing web bookmarks) and a computer model of possible tag choice strategies. We find evidence that users choose tags in a pattern consistent with personal information management goals, rather than as a result of social influence. ACM Classification Keywords H.5.3 Information Interfaces and Presentation: Group and Organization Interfaces

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Emilee J. Rader, Rick Wash
• Keywords: Collaborative Tagging, Collaborative Tagging Systems, CSCW 2008, Social Sciences, Users Choose Tags