Tom, (01)
I agree that folksonomies are new, and they are becoming an important
resource. (02)
> Yes, but folksonomies are a *new* source of data about how people use
> language, in addition to dictionaries, the Rosetta Stone, etc. Tags are not
> used as dictionary entries or as definitions of words. They are simply
> ways that people have labeled things *for their own purposes* - either
> information management (like foldering) or to be part of a social group that
> uses the tag. The technique of tagging is old; the abundance of data and
> contexts of use are new. (03)
I agree that the tags aren't used as dictionary entries, but neither
are the words of any NL -- the dictionary entries are like butterflies
on a pin in a museum in comparison to the living words. (04)
> ... They are simply ways that people have labeled things *for their
> own purposes* - either information management (like foldering) or
> to be part of a social group that uses the tag. (05)
That is *precisely* the nature of words in any and every NL. It's
just that words have been around so long that many of them have a
much longer history. But new words are being created and discarded
every day, mostly by very small social groups. (06)
> The technique of tagging is old; the abundance of data and
> contexts of use are new. (07)
The WWW has certainly given us an abundance of easily available data,
and I agree that the tags are an important part of that data. But
the way the use of tags evolve is *exactly* the same as the jargon,
the slang, the technical terms, the baby talk, and the pet terms
and in-jokes of any family or social group. (08)
The mechanisms, both psychologically and sociologically, are the same.
The only difference is how they are recorded and used. And the way
they are being used today is only a tiny subset of the possible ways
that the current crop of tags will be related to the next new technology
for creating and using word-like tags. (09)
I just wanted to point out that if you want to know where tagging
will go in the future, look at where words came from in the past. (010)
John (011)
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