Tags for every situation

1. Tagging for productivity
2. File library vs. file system
3. File system tagging
4. Tagging files with file libraries

Although tagging for productivity can be fun, tagging any old file on their computer is one of the main things people want to be able to do (right up there with tagging photos). If you’re into tagging your files, then you’ve probably run across two different ways to do it: file system tagging and file libraries. I’ll get to specific software in the next article; for now, here’s the differences between the two.

Wether you use file system tagging or a file library depends mostly on personal preference. Both have their pros and cons, and both have a selection of different software available (although file system tagging still doesn’t have any standout fantastic options).

File system tagging

If you use file system tagging, you’ll attach tags to your files so that you can find those files in the Finder or using Spotlight. At the time of this writing, there is no good way to store keywords or tags via Spotlight, so most file system tagging options make use of Spotlight comments.

File system tagging complements folder-based organization, and is quite forgiving (and usually cheaper) because it makes use of features provided by the OS. File system tagging software complements the operating system rather than replacing its functionality. Using file system tagging, you can tag virtually anything in your computer using a single tagging system.

The downside is that there is no great software for file system tagging. Some of the software is quite good, but nothing has been released yet that makes file system tagging as enjoyable and easy as it should be. Some developers are hoping that OS 10.5 will introduce features to Spotlight and the Finder to make file system tagging easier to implement; currently being stuck with Spotlight comments is the main hurdle for file system tagging software, and the reason that it is so universally limited. Until that time, though, file system tagging will likely remain somewhat clumsy to implement.

File libraries

A file library collects and searches your files outside of the Finder and Spotlight (although most file libraries are integrated with Spotlight to some extent). In general, if you’re using a file library you’ll be storing your files in a program-specific database.

The best part about using a file library is that its searching and browsing will be much more efficient than using Spotlight or file system tagging software. Additionally, the tagging capabilities (and other organizational tools) are universally better than anything file system tagging has provided because the developers have complete control over how they attach information to files.

The downside is that file libraries are often harder to integrate with other software. Tagging a file in a Spotlight comment means that any program that accesses Spotlight comments can use the tag. Tagging a file in a file library usually means that the tag can only be accessed if you’re running the file library (or, to a limited extent, through Spotlight searches). If you start using a file library, you’re making a commitment to keep using that specific file library.

Which to use?

Currently, file libraries are far easier to use because they provide an easy workflow out of the box, such as it were. Once you’ve learned the tools and interface, a file library can make tagging files extremely simple. File system tagging is not quite so friendly because to get a really good workflow you have to put a fair amount of creative work into the process. If you are able to develop a good file system tagging workflow, of course, it can easily end up being more universally applicable to files than a file library. You just have to be willing to put in the time.

I’ll be covering specific options for file system tagging and file libraries in a forthcoming article, so stay tuned!

Defining tagging

1. The parts of tagging
2. Tag browsers
3. The realms of tagging

Tagging as a popular phenomenon was developed online, where many tagging systems feature tags created by the members of a site. Thanks to this phenomenon, a lot of the intellectual thought about tagging centers around “folksonomies” and other ideas of collaborative tagging.

However, there are actually three distinct realms of tagging, and each requires you think about tagging in a slightly different way: private, public, and collaborative.

All three realms are hopefully somewhat self-explanatory, but there are some interesting things to note about each.

Private

A private tagging system is one where a single individual tags items, searches for items, and browses for items. This is the single easiest type of tagging, because it requires the least thought. You can tag things the way you think about them without worrying how other people may think.

Private tagging systems are most often found in desktop software, but occasionally do make their way online. A lot of the early advice that I’ve published on Tagamac assumes that you are crafting a personal tagging system because of my early focus with Tagamac on desktop tagging.

Public

A public tagging system is created and maintained by a single individual, but other people can search and browse the tags. An excellent example is the tags on every Tagamac article: I’m in complete control of them, but they are intended for the benefit of other people.

Public tagging is trickier than private tagging because besides being consistent, you also have to consider how the other people will use tags when browsing and searching, and tag accordingly. For example, my advice to keep tags singular may not be a good idea in public tagging, where people tend to think of tags as categories rather than information attached to a specific item.

It’s worth noting that you may well make different choices when tagging if the other users are searching or browsing for tags. In a browsing system, you don’t have to worry quite as much at what might be the terms that come first to mind for your visitors, because they’ll have all the terms in front of them. If it is a searching system, though, you’ll have to keep the ways your visitors might be thinking firmly in the forefront of your mind.

Collaborative

In a collaborative tagging system every user tags items. This kind of system is fairly prevalent online. “Folksonomy” is often used to refer to collaborative tagging.

Collaborative tagging has a lot of strengths, but consistency is usually not one of them. Because everyone tags differently, tags can quickly become a giant mess. On the other hand, if the user base is large enough items tend to be tagged more thoroughly than in either a private or public system. Generally, if you are contributing to a collaborative tagging system (such as del.icio.us or Flickr) you should try to keep your personal tagging system consistent (to maintain your own sanity) and also try to consistently use the tagging conventions that have evolved in the tagging system you’re using.

Defining tagging

1. The parts of tagging
2. Tag browsers
3. The realms of tagging

One of the reasons that tagging can be difficult to get into is because few tagging systems are alike. Although there are similarities, tagging is not only still evolving as a way of organizing but there are also several different ways to think about tags.

The most striking difference between different tagging programs is generally the tag browser. The act of tagging is fairly standardized (auto-complete, drag and drop, etc.), but browsing is much more heterogeneous. Most browsers fall into one of three types: tag clouds, tag trees, or tag recipes.

Tag cloud

The tag cloud is the most common tag browser online and is also well represented offline. A tag cloud is a list of all available tags, often with some indication through color or size about which tags are used more (the tags are weighted).

A tag cloud is flat; in other words, the tags have no direct relationship to one another. If I’m using a tag cloud to sort RTF documents, the tagging software may know that “writing” and “short story” occur on a lot of documents together, but it doesn’t know that a short story is a type of writing.

Some tag clouds allow you to browse for single tags, while others are cumulative. A cumulative tag cloud lets you select multiple tags and find only items that have all of them. Tagamac’s tag cloud is not cumulative, but it is a good example of a weighted cloud (using size rather than color).

Tag tree

Tag trees are less common online (I’m not sure if I’ve ever come across one, actually), and more common in software that manages things like photos. Tag trees are hierarchical. Tags can contain other tags, and they move from general to specific. For instance, I might have a “country” tag and inside of it I have tags like “france”, “britain”, and “swaziland”. Then inside of those tags I might have cities: “paris”, “london”, and “mbabane”. The tags have a parent-child relationship: “britain” is the parent of “london” and “mbabane” is the child of “swaziland”.

Tag trees are not good for cumulative browsing. Instead they allow you to drill down to a specific tag, which limits your results to items that have that tag. The advantage of using a tag tree rather than a traditional hierarchical system (such as folders) is that items can easily have multiple tags.

Some tag trees allow you to see the contents of children tags when browsing a parent tag. Others subscribe to traditional folder styles and only show you the items that have that specific tag. Both ways have their pros and cons.

Tag recipe

Tag recipes are usually found in desktop software. Browsing a tag recipe is like finding a recipe by selecting the ingredients one by one. First, you select a single tag. You are then shown a list of all other tags that occur on items with the first tag. You continue to select tags until you have a recipe of tags and a very small number of applicable items. Tag recipes can easily be paired with either tag trees or tag clouds.

Tag recipes are flat because they only show which tags occur together with no indication of parent-child relationships, and they are always cumulative. The nice thing about a tag recipe as compared to a cumulative tag cloud is that the recipe only lets you pick tags that occur together.

As far as I know, I’m the only person who uses the term “tag recipe.” There may be a more technical term for them, but I wanted something that suggested its functionality. Of course, the metaphor is a bit backwards unless you do a lot of searching for recipes using ingredients, but such is life. I’d love to hear if you know of another name for this kind of tag browser. The only other one I’ve heard bandied about is “tag browser”, which applies to all three to my mind.

Why do we care?

As I’ve said before, there’s no single right way to tag. How to tag relies heavily on which tag browser you are using and what makes sense to you. The tag browser is usually what makes or breaks a piece of tagging software, so knowing what your different options are can help you find the perfect software for you. If you know that using tag clouds makes you irritable (or joyful, or melancholy, or whatever else), then you can save yourself a lot of time when you are browsing through software.

Defining tagging

1. The parts of tagging
2. Tag browsers
3. The realms of tagging

I like to think that tagging is straightforward. It may seem like a strange way to organize and find information at first, but once you get used to it the whole process is not that complicated.

However, even when a subject is not particularly complicated, it can still be difficult to talk about. I have found in my journey through life (and academia, which are not one and the same no matter what they tell you) that one of the most important parts of any discussion of a topic is solid definitions. As a result, I am going to try to break down using tags into simple definitions over the course of several articles. This article is the first, and defines the three actions that you will perform when working with tags:

Tagging: the act of attaching a tag to something. This is probably what you think of first when you think of tags. Tagging also refers to maintenance of your pool of tags; removing tags, renaming tags, organizing tags, adding new tags, etc. Tagging is the creative portion of using tags, because you have to think up which tags to use (also when you are thinking of using the SLS system or not).

Searching: the act of using tags to find specific targeted items. You could also call this “filtering” if you wanted. Searching is what you do when you know what you are trying to find, and you use tags to locate it. An example would be if I wanted to find that picture of my friend Suzy that I took in New York, and searched for items with the tags “suzy” and “new york”. Searching also covers using saved searches to sort and locate items.

Browsing: the act of using tags to find related items. Unlike searching, browsing doesn’t target any specific item or subset of items. Instead, when you browse tags you are usually looking for related items. For example, I might browse my “suzy” tag to see all pictures of Suzy. Closer to home, the tags attached to each article on Tagamac are best suited for browsing because while they do not supplement the search system (and are thus not very useful for locating specific articles), they do make it easy to find articles that are related.