I am definitely inspired by Lisa’s kids and I really do want to tag my posts, but I just can’t seem to get into the routine.
Clearly, I need to either:
a) be convinced that it is absolutely essential to the blogging experience. What exactly does tagging do for me?
or
b) find an easier way to embed tags every day. I know about David’s handy tag generator, but I guess I need it to be even easier…
Part of the problem is that I read this:
If your blog software supports categories and RSS/Atom feeds (like Movable Type, WordPress, TypePad, Blogware, Radio), just use the included category system and make sure you are publishing RSS/Atom feeds and your categories will be read as tags.
back in August when I started blogging and, since it sounded logical and I’m using WordPress, I promptly forgot all about it and assumed it would work.
So, what’s the story? Am I tagging? If I’m not, why should I be?
Image: http://www.xpresstags.com/images/shipping_tags0.jpg
You’re kind of tagging…
Imagine you had a bookshelf full of one thousand books that had absolutely the same size, shape, color, etc with no discernable difference. You are going to read them and then transfer all of them to another bookshelf, one by one as you complete them. Some you complete quickly, other take a while. Now imagine if I gave you a post it note to jot down key ideas, the title, topic, etc. Wouldn’t that make it easier to go back and find a book you wanted to reference?
Better yet, let’s say you and Alex have my wife and I over for dinner and I am browsing your bookshelf and find a book I might like to read, based on what you’ve jotted on your post-it.
Better yet, what if I could go to the library and search for other books with the same notes on other folks’ post it notes?
Tagging is similar, and I am sure my analogy is terrible. Simply put, you tag posts to make sure you can find them again if you need them, but also to help folks find your blog. What if I find your blog but want to see if you’ve ever written about greyhounds. I can search for it, but you know those results can be wonky. If you had tagged each greyhound post with the word greyhound, I can super easily find them. Tags are more versatile than categories. If you’d written about labradors, spaniels, and other canines in a category named “Dogs” I would have to sift through other dog-related posts to find the greyound posts I desire.
Then the technorati folks come in by searching for greyhound on technorati and see that you’ve tagged your posts that way.
I hope this helps at least slightly!
Chris
Perhaps we could have a competition, you and I, and see who is the world’s slackest tagger. I think I have about 6 or 7 technorati tags in over 300 posts and I understand where Chris is coming from but for me, it’s the discipline in tagging that I find hard to follow through on. When I finish up a blog post, the last thing I want to do is some hand coding or go searching for a tag creator, never mind trying to find the key topic words to use as tags. Some people don’t have time to blog – I don’t have time to tag.
I use this tags button to do my tags. I don’t want to go to another site; I want it right there when I do my post.
http://loucypher.wordpress.com/2005/12/27/technorati-tags-button/
It’s a Greasemonkey Script for Firefox. If you’re not a Firefox user or don’t want to mess with Greasemonkey, I’m sure there are other options out there. I ended up with this one because it puts a “Tags” button in the interface to create a new post. I press Tags, type what I want, press another button, and I’m done. No copying and pasting. Now if I could only remember to do it every time before I publish, I’d be set. :)
Personally, I use my categories as more high level sorting and tags as a lower level. I don’t add categories for names of people or conferences, but I can tag for those instead.
I find tagging helps th MS think, not always on the blog, but at least out loud. The idea of categorizing just helps them do a better job…like a box inside a box inside a box..those Russian boxes…Your kids inspire me and my kids!
Technorati Tags: K-12 blogging tagging
My kids are getting out of the habut – is it summeritis? I will emphasize it more next year.
Chris,
You’re so close to convincing me! I can definitely see the advantages, but I’m pretty sure I still won’t be able to force myself to tag every post. There needs to be a way to embed tagging right into edublogs. Easy and easier is my motto.
Graham,
You’re on! Let the contest begiiiiiin….. now!
Christy,
I like the sound of what you’ve got going there. I have to investigate that more thoroughly. It sounds like my kind of tagging – right there in your face.
Durff,
That’s so interesting that you say that – I often find myself rambling on and on, but when it comes time to write the title I’m stumped. Then I have to go back and rework everything I wrote to focus the post on the main idea. Maybe tagging would help me…
http://ssielearning.tafensw.edu.au/audio/flnw08_leo_wong_14012008.mp3
I tagged it ‘ TALO FLNW08 ‘ and also ‘networked learning’.
In two blogs.
To ensure we can collate a Lulu production which prints down a collaboration between people pretending to network, mobilising in groups and struggling to be individuals.
Leo reckons “it’s the people that make the difference’.
Blogging without tags is like Google with out meta-data.
Alex,
Although I have already started tagging, this would have been the sentence to sell me:
Blogging without tags is like Google with out meta-data.
Thanks!