Social bookmarking systems enable participants to store and classify digital information using keywords or tags. This process of classifying data/information about information (metadata) into categories is called tagging. This non-hierarchical and inclusive process of groups cooperating ad hoc to categorise and share information using reader-created (e.g. del.icio.us) tags is called a folksonomy. The advantage of tagging is that it enable people to label and share categorised information publically providing a personal and collective benefit.

Social navigation systems are systems that explore the collaborative actions used by people navigating within an information space. Social navigation is a design approach introduced by Dourish and Chalmers [1994] as "navigation towards a cluster of people or navigation because other people have looked at something" [Dieberger, 1997].

Dieberger [1997] later widened the definition to include direct recommendations such as browsing websites or navigating through published bookmark collections on a homepage. Social navigation then may be described as behaviours which assist others to more easily navigate in a shared, information space.

Statement of Intent

My thesis uses a social navigation approach to explore navigational strategies employed by users within these social bookmarking systems

Reference Materials

Relevant Folksonomy and Tagging References

Bookmark, Classify, and Share (a del.icio.us study) Folksonomy Definition Folksonomies - Cooperative Classification and Communication Through Shared Metadata Explaining and Showing Broad and Narrow Folksonomies The Structure of Collaborative Tagging Systems

Relevant Social Navigation References

Supporting Social Navigation on the World Wide Web Running Out of Space

Additional References of Interest

Sorting Things Out The Wisdom of Crowds Smart Mobs Small Pieces Loosely Joined

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