[finders] In Search of Clarity

[finders at findability.org]

April 19, 2006: In Search of Clarity

http://www.findability.org/archives/000111.php

I was born in Manchester, England. Thus, it's safe to conclude that I love
football, beans on toast, and dry humour.

Unfortunately, this British sense of humour gets me into trouble. Like when
I wrote Big Architect, Little Architect as a tribute to Big Dog, Little Dog
and earned the eternal ire of little architects around the world. Calm down
folks! Who ever said bigger is better? Embrace your miniscularity. As
Richard Feynman wisely noted, there's plenty of room at the bottom.

So, now all that Defining IA fuss is behind us, it's time to set the record
straight with respect to folksonomy. While skimming the April issue of
EContent, I was horrifically amused to read the following:

"Peter Morville, who authored Ambient Findability and is one of the
blogosphere's leading opponents to folksonomy, finds little value in
user-generated tags."

Now, while I have been known to tag bash and leaf lash on occasion, I had
hoped readers would recognize my barbed words as tough love tenderly wrapped
in dry humour. Clearly, I over-estimated my readers.

So, for the record, I see lots of value in user-generated tags, and
continuing value in taxonomies and controlled vocabularies. In some
contexts, one will exist without the other, and sometimes they will
co-evolve in pace-layered harmony.

Or maybe not.

In any case, I hope this article has been helpful to little architects,
folksonomy fetishists, my readers, and anyone else still searching for a
sense of humour.