Collaborative Tagging as a discovery tool

"Collaborative Tagging as a Knowledge Organisation and Resource Discovery Tool" (pdf) by George Macgregor and Emma McCuulloch from University of Strathclyde.

"Equally, collaborative tagging can not be entirely dismissed by librarians or information professionals in the manner that tagging proponents dismiss controlled vocabularies..... The need to engage users in the development of control vocabularies has been recognised by vocabulary experts and collaborative tagging systems could potentially provide a base model for such approaches. Ultimately the dicthotomous co-existence of controlled vocabularies and collaborative tagging systems will emerge; with each appropriate for use within distinct information contexts: formal (e.g. academic tasks, industrial research, corporate knowledge management, etc.) and informal (e.g. recreational research, PIM, exploring exhaustive subject areas prior to formal exploration, etc.)."