I am a Bad Tag Gardener

I noticed yesterday that I had almost 500 starred items in Google Reader. I'd gotten into the lazy habit of highlighting great blog posts that I want to re-read, interesting information that I might send to a friend, unfamiliar topics that I'd like to learn more about...  Anything that catches my eye, basically.

As I scrolled through the looong list, I wished Google Reader had some kind of search/sort feature for helping me make sense of the jumbled mess. But after looking up James Governor's old post on declarative living, it seems clutter is what I get for being a negligent tag gardener.

When people who don't blog ask me what I've gotten out of blogging, my usual answer is, better perspective on everything I've blogged about. It's a form of thinking out loud that encourages more thoroughness and coherence than thinking about an idea in passing.

Taking my argument to its logical conclusion, wouldn't it make sense to attach tags/comments to the feed items I want to keep track of instead of absent-mindedly moving everything to one giant "read later" folder? If I can't easily explain why I'm saving an article now, I most likely won't have reasons to come back to it. Besides, I'd have better luck searching for it on Google than combing through a growing haystack of unrelated items. Hmm... could that be why so many people  use the del.icio.us blog thingy?

I guess I hadn't set one up until yesterday because of the distinction Jon Udell describes between personal information management and blog-level editorial sensibility. He bookmarks some items under obscure tags for his own reference, and posts other links because he wants to draw attention to them. As he puts it, the friction involved in this kind of either/or decision makes him less likely to bookmark publicly or privately.

But maybe the solution is to live declaratively and not worry about the distinction? For instance, I always look forward to seeing Steve Rubel's daily links, but I usually click on only a few of the items he's bookmarked. More importantly, the links that interest me most might or might not coincide with what he feels are highest priority.

It doesn't matter, though, because tagging isn't about filtering information for the benefit of a specific and monolithic audience. Instead, it expands opportunities for people who may be 99% unlike you to leverage your research on the 1% common ground you share. And that's pretty cool. So my belated New Year's resolution is to be a better tag gardener. Thanks, James!

Comments

[Travis Stoliker]

Hi Isabel,
Great post as usual!

It's not ideal, but check this out:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/12/how-to-add-search-to-google-reader.html

or:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6912

[Isabel Wang]

Wow - awesome! Thanks, Travis!! I'm going to try to be good and swear off clutter. But if my starred folder continues to balloon, I'm glad to know there are options available :)

[Mark Crofton]

Hey Isabel,

I'm trying to get in the habit of taggin work (and I use that term to cover almost anything tech related) stuff using ConnectBeam. that way i can come back and find it and others in my company can see what I'm tagging.

Regarding this resolution: what are you using to tag? del.icio.us?

Mark

[Isabel Wang]

Hi Mark! Yes - using del.icio.us to tag. Is ConnectBeam purely a corporate solution (ie users visible only to those within same organization)?

[Mark Crofton]

I can have my tags shared only with people within my company if I wish. And, if colleague allow, I can see all tags within my company. A good way to see what others here find interesting.

[Mark Crofton]

Check out this post by one of my bosses on tagging. cites an interesting report.

http://ablebrains.typepad.com/ablebrains/2007/02/tagging_to_enri.html

[Isabel Wang]

Totally agree. Bucket save, bad. Tagging, good. It's all a matter of discipline though. Which is why I'm a little skeptical about the Pew report. "People who have tagged" is not the same as "people who habitually tag".

[james governor]

oh wow just reread this. get a delicious account asap. its a wonderful tool, notably because it makes information referral so easy. its not just personal but social. you will love it.

[Ric]

You can mark the tag as "do not share", so only you see it. I also recommend the del.icio.us extension (available for IE and FF) - it will make using del.icio.us tags heaps easier (http://del.icio.us/help/firefox/extension , http://del.icio.us/help/ie/extension).

[Isabel Wang]

I've had a del.icio.us account for a while, and even the del.icio.us extension. Was only using it for "bucket save" though - didn't tag most of my saved links. Trying to be better now :)