If you’re going to be at the 2009 Semantic Technology Conference in San Jose next week, please stop by on Wednesday afternoon and listen to Richard and me present on integrating taxonomy and folksonomy.  This presentation by Earley & Associates was developed by Stephanie Lemiuex over the last several years, who was originally scheduled to present it.  She has developed four categories describing how taxonomy and folksonomy can be used together, and has collected a wealth of illustrative examples.   Richard is an excellent presenter (he has a Ph.D. in Ontology!); I’m honored to share the dais with him and to have the opportunity to present Stephanie’s fantastic content.  

Here’s the official abstract:

Tagging isn’t new – it’s been around for a dog’s age in internet years.  But in the past few years some fresh ideas and tools have reinvigorated the social tagging world.  These new approaches include an attempt to improve findability through a bit of structure and control.  While the idea of adding control to folksonomy seems like going against the whole selling point of social tagging (flexibility, openness), it is bringing the tagging to a new level, making it more viable for practical use in enterprises.  This session will present hybrid approaches to formal taxonomies and social tagging.  How can they be used in the corporate environment?  What type of content is appropriate for social tagging?  What kind of software is available for the enterprise?  Learn how social tagging is not necessarily anathema to corporate taxonomy programs and how this hybrid approach can bring the best of both worlds: a fresh, up to date taxonomy with the structure needed to improve information findability.
Key Takeaways:

• Folksonomy and taxonomy defined
• Drawbacks of pure social tagging
• Social tagging in the enterprise
• Hybrid taxonomy & folksonomy approaches: Four models