Here, here! It isn't an either/or situation most people are suggesting. Much of the language we use and many of the assumptions we make in museums, libraries and archives simply scares people off or bores them to death. Folksonomies can help us. Mal _______________________ Mal Booth Head of Research Centre Australian War Memorial GPO Box 345 Canberra ACT 2601
+61 2 6243 4250 +61 2 6243 4545 (fax) +61 0403 378627 mal.booth at awm.gov.au Read my blog http://blog.awm.gov.au/lawrence/ ( http://blog.awm.gov.au/lawrence/ ) >>> "Nick Poole" <nick at mda.org.uk> 20/11/2006 4:39 am >>> Jeanette et al, I was really interested in the post around the 'Beneath the Metadata' article. I actually think the article has some pretty deep flaws. First of all, it is not entirely clear why you would apply these philosophical constructs to Folksonomy in the first place and secondly I don't think it helps to further the understanding of what Folksonomy and 'traditional' cataloguing are and how they might work together. The article essentially says that classification is about absolutes - this horse is white, that box is empty - whereas Folksonomy is about subjectivity and relativism. It goes on to compare classification with propositional logic and states that Folksonomy by its nature gives rise to logical contradiction. It strikes me that this misses a significant part of the real value of the approach. In her article, Elaine Peterson says that when we catalogue, we are asking the question 'What is it?'. I couldn't disagree more. What we are really asking is 'What are we going to call this thing (and things relevantly similar to it)?'. In this sense, 'traditional' classification is an act of collective relativism, and is equally subject to the flaws of subjectivity as Folksonomy. I have no doubt that the wave around Folksonomy will eventually pass, and I very much hope that what will be left is an enriched approach to professional classification. There is considerable strength in a hybrid approach which retains the intellectual rigour of ontological standardisation but which equally recognises the additional potential value of large-scale subjective term-attribution. For example, would it not validate our professional beliefs if the subjective interpretations of tens of thousands of people translated up into patterns of meaning which confirmed them? And similarly, if they don't, wouldn't there be considerable value in asking why not? Finally, whatever the linguistic consistency or validity of folksonomic thesauri, we must never underestimate the importance of letting people in. The act of tagging is only partly to do with classification. It is an affirmative act which says 'I want to be involved' and for that alone, it is of tremendous value. Nick Poole Director Museum Documentation Association Nick Poole Director MDA The Spectrum Building, The Michael Young Centre, Purbeck Road, Cambridge, CB2 2PD Telephone: 01223 415 760 http://www.mda.org.uk ( http://www.mda.org.uk/ ) http://www.collectionsforall.org.uk ( http://www.collectionsforall.org.uk/ ) The revised edition of SPECTRUM, the UK museum documentation standard, is now available. Download it for free at: http://www.mda.org.uk/spectrum.htm -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of amalyah keshet Sent: 18 November 2006 11:00 To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Fwd: folksonomy article Thanks for forwarding this. Good article. Amalyah Keshet At 20:33 17/11/2006, you wrote: > >Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 09:41:44 -0800 > >Sender: Visual Resources Association <VRA-L at LISTSERV.UARK.EDU> > >From: Jeanette Mills <jcmills at U.WASHINGTON.EDU> > >Subject: folksonomy article > >To: VRA-L at LISTSERV.UARK.EDU > >Hello everyone -- Considering the recent discussions of folksonomy, > >I thought this article in the most recent issue of D-Lib might be of > >interest. I don't think it's been mentioned yet. > > > >Beneath the Metadata: Some Philosophical Problems with Folksonomy > >Elaine Peterson, Montana State University > >http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november06/peterson/11peterson.html > > > >Jeanette > > > >===================================== > >Jeanette C. Mills, MA + MLIS > >Director of Visual Services & Newsletter Editor > >School of Art, University of Washington > >jcmills at u dot washington dot edu > >206-543-0649 > >===================================== > >-- >Diane M. Zorich >113 Gallup Road >Princeton, NJ 08542 USA >Voice: 609-252-1606 >Fax: 609-252-1607 >Email: dzorich at mindspring.com Amalyah Keshet Head of Image Resources & Copyright Management The Israel Museum, Jerusalem Tel +972-2-670-8874 Fax +972-2-670-8064 _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
