Want to Protest a Movie? Give Away the Plot

If the film offends you, give away its plot secrets. Identify the bad guys. Whoops.

Here's the Reuters new wire story (don't read if you dont want a spoiler!).

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Tagging for Self, Tagging for Others

I read it, and thought, nope, that doesn't quite describe what tagging is about, for me at least.

At one point, she writes, "In the digital world, we don't just categorize an object, we also optimize its future findability."

I agree with that. What I disagree with is why we do it. At least, why I do it.

I don't tag stuff for my own benefit. I couldn't care less about tags that way. I don't use them as mnemonics, I don't use them to organize my own pile of digital "stuff". I explicitly use them to help others find things.

In my own experience, tagging is about consciously optimizing an object's future findability... by others. When I go to Flickr, I'll tag things not so I can find them again. I tag them so other people will find them. I consciously think about, hmm, what words or phrases best describe and categorize this item and make it most findable by other people? I think about how other people are most likely to be thinking about tags too: how would they most likely search for something like this object? What tag(s) would they most likely apply to this object? Do I agree with what tags I think folks would most likely ascribe to this object? Are those tags already ascribed? If not, I add 'em.

This is what I do on Flickr. This is what I do on Eventful.

Another thing she talks about that I have to disagree with. She says, "Another observation about tagging - it provides immediate self and social feedback. Each tag tells you a little about what you are interested in." I think that is a dangerous assumption, to believe that each tag indicates interest. Systems built upon such an assumption will result in frustrated users wondering why they're receiving recommendations for items that mean nothing to them. Think Amazon: you go look at a book -- maybe someone's showing you something, maybe you heard about this book, or item, or whatever. You go look at its detail page. You have no interest in this type of book (say, it's a book about childcare and you have no kids, or a book about gardening when you don't have a garden). Suddenly you get recommendations for this type of book on your personalized Amazon home page. Irrelevance.

I tag items with words and phrases to help others find this item -- doesn't mean I like this item, or that I prefer or have an interest in these tags.

Maybe it's the librarian in me: just doing my job to make more stuff discoverable. Doesn't mean I have an interest in the stuff. What I have an interest in is discoverability. By others.