Comments on: Why article tagging doesn’t work

By: Science Spotlight - March 23rd, 2009 | Next Generation Science

Science Spotlight - March 23rd, 2009 | Next Generation Science — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:05:52 +0000

[...] Why article tagging doesn’t work | Bench Marks [...]

By: Science Spotlight - March 6th, 2009 | Next Generation Science

Science Spotlight - March 6th, 2009 | Next Generation Science — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:26:25 +0000

[...] Why article tagging doesn’t work | Bench Marks [...]

By: Victor

Victor — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:14:49 +0000

Yes, it’s a very tricky issue – and you wouldn’t guess what happened today: Today, the MPAA asked me to be an expert witness in their trial against BitTorrent because of a couple of filesharing papers I published a while ago Can’t make these things up.

Also, to add a further twist to this story, you may recall that I mentioned the background of our new investor when we met at CSH – today I can reveal that he was head of Digital Strategy at Warner Music: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/25/mendeley-snags-2-million-in-early-stage-funding-for-research-paper-management-tool.

But I still agree that you have a very good point, which we’ll continue to ponder as we chart these murky waters.

By: Richard Gayle

Richard Gayle — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:15:36 +0000

Some of these problems are not just limited to science publications. Almost any database dealing with cutting edge science has problems applying proper semantic filters. Things like what is the proper tag from the list (which may not really include a tag for the protein you are working on), trying to add a tag but not having a sufficiently useful one for anyone else to find and proper curating so that papers get retagged after new information alters the paper’s thrust.

Scientists will move onto this when it really provides a novel purpose for the individual scientist and their work. Few are going to take the time to tag an article or recommend it purely because it is useful for the community.

The pluralistic network effects of Web 2.0 approaches often have to grow out of purely selfish motives.

By: Not such a killer, perhaps

Not such a killer, perhaps — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:08:26 +0000

[...] Hey Paul Why article tagging doesn’t work: [Via Bench Marks] Reading William Gunn’s recent blog posting, Could this be the Science [...]

By: Eva

Eva — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:04:32 +0000

I wrote a somewhat similar blog post several months ago, about ease of use (and lack thereof) in reference managers. Nobody wants to do any *more* work than they're currently doing, and a lot of the social sharing tools are based on making an effort.

By: David Crotty

David Crotty — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:54:53 +0000

That’s the gist of it Victor. I think you guys are doing interesting things and making good tools, and I’ll be saddened if you run into trouble over these issues. Then again, you’re not alone, which surprises me. I’d think there would be a better understanding of previous cases and the reasons everyone switched to P2P systems rather than centralized servers. I’m also surprised not to see more care given to statements made that may be interpreted to encourage infringement ala Grokster. The other case to keep an eye on is the lawsuit against MP3tunes.com, where EMI is alleging copyright violations for merely storing (and not distributing) copyrighted materials.

By: Victor

Victor — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:17:45 +0000

Ah – sorry, I’m a bit slow tonight. You were talking about the copyright issue (referring to Napster/Grokster), I’m assuming. I thought the discussion we had when I visited you as CSH was quite illuminating – so at least you know we’re not unaware of these issues!

By: Victor

Victor — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:12:44 +0000

Hi David,

thanks for sharing your thoughts on Mendeley. I just wanted to add that we’ll also be adding full-text search to our Online Library, so you can choose to do both – rely on tagging or on full-text search.

I’d also be interested to learn what you think the issues might be regarding our longevity when Mendeley catches on – we’re always trying to improve!

Best wishes,
Victor

By: David Crotty

David Crotty — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:43:37 +0000

Ian I agree that there are advantages to tagging–for example, GoPubMed is a very helpful tool, with its hierarchy for narrowing down results. Then again, if you’re talking about your own collection of frequently consulted resources, you’ve already done a lot of that narrowing down. I do have hopes for better semantic tools, but like you, I’m looking forward to seeing them actually exist.