Social tagging with a faceted classification structure: Applying to book description
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Chen, Yi-Chen
Abstract
Recently, social tagging has been suggested as the supplement to traditional ways of information organization because it holds the promise of adding value to controlled vocabularies-based cataloging by enabling users to organize books or titles of interest with their own tags. However, several studies have questioned its effectiveness in information discovery and retrieval. The main assumption of the study is that tagging can be effectively mixed with a richer faceted classification scheme to support semantic browsing and searching. This study aims to compare faceted structure-based tagging with freely assigned tags of the same books and to understand the effect of different tagging modes on the resulting tag sets, particularly in the context of fiction and non-fiction works.
An experiment was conducted with a factorial and randomized post-test control group design. The participating users were assigned to either experimental group or control group depending on the provision of faceted structure. All the participants of both groups were asked to tag 16 titles comprising 8 fiction and 8 non-fiction works.
Research findings show that the the resulting tag sets in faceted structure-based tagging display more distinct tags, more number of assigned tags on average, higher tag similarity , higher convergence, and more facets. However, findings also reveal that tagging with faceted structure takes more time and effort, and the users feel less satisfied and less confident of the resulting tag sets.
The last finding suggests that tagging can be effectively mixed with a faceted classification scheme to support book indexing and retrieval. Nevertheless, the faceted classification needs to be enhanced with more flexibility, greater diversity and easiness.
Subjects
faceted classification
social tagging
social tags
folksonomy
book description
fiction works
Type
thesis
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