Folksonomy: the New Way to Serendipity

Auray, Nicolas (2007): Folksonomy: the New Way to Serendipity. Published in: International Journal of Digital Economics No. 65 (March 2007): pp. 67-88.

Abstract

Folksonomy expands the collaborative process by allowing contributors to index content. It rests on three powerful properties: the absence of a prior taxonomy, multi-indexation and the absence of thesaurus. It concerns a more exploratory search than an entry in a search engine. Its original relationship-based structure (the three-way relationship between users, content and tags) means that folksonomy allows various modalities of curious explorations: a cultural exploration and a social exploration. The paper has two goals. Firstly, it tries to draw a general picture of the various folksonomy websites. Secundly, since labelling lacks any standardisation, folksonomies are often under threat of invasion by noise. This paper consequently tries to explore the different possible ways of regulating the self-generated indexation process.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Institution: communications & strategies
• Language: English
• Keywords: taxonomy; indexation; innovation and user-created content
• Subjects: M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M4 - Accounting and Auditing > M41 - Accounting; K - Law and Economics > K0 - General > K00 - General; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M4 - Accounting and Auditing > M49 - Other; L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities > L96 - Telecommunications