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Enhancing social tagging with automated keywords from the Dewey Decimal Classification

Koraljka Golub (UKOLN, University of Bath, Bath, UK)
Marianne Lykke (Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark)
Douglas Tudhope (Faculty of Computer, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, Newport, UK)

Journal of Documentation

ISSN: 0022-0418

Article publication date: 2 September 2014

1724

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of applying the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) as an established knowledge organization system (KOS) for enhancing social tagging, with the ultimate purpose of improving subject indexing and information retrieval.

Design/methodology/approach

Over 11,000 Intute metadata records in politics were used. Totally, 28 politics students were each given four tasks, in which a total of 60 resources were tagged in two different configurations, one with uncontrolled social tags only and another with uncontrolled social tags as well as suggestions from a controlled vocabulary. The controlled vocabulary was DDC comprising also mappings from the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

Findings

The results demonstrate the importance of controlled vocabulary suggestions for indexing and retrieval: to help produce ideas of which tags to use, to make it easier to find focus for the tagging, to ensure consistency and to increase the number of access points in retrieval. The value and usefulness of the suggestions proved to be dependent on the quality of the suggestions, both as to conceptual relevance to the user and as to appropriateness of the terminology.

Originality/value

No research has investigated the enhancement of social tagging with suggestions from the DDC, an established KOS, in a user trial, comparing social tagging only and social tagging enhanced with the suggestions. This paper is a final reflection on all aspects of the study.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work in part results from a project called EnTag which was funded by UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) under its Capital Programme, for a period of 12 months in 2007 and 2008. Many thanks to Intute who supplied an extract of their social science collection, and to Diane Vizine-Goetz, Andrew Houghton, Michael Panzer of OCLC who provided the Dewey Decimal Classification and their assistance during the project.

Citation

Golub, K., Lykke, M. and Tudhope, D. (2014), "Enhancing social tagging with automated keywords from the Dewey Decimal Classification", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 70 No. 5, pp. 801-828. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2013-0056

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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