Social Tagging as a Knowledge Organization and Resource Discovery Tool

I recently read the article "Social Tagging as a Knowledge Organization and Resource Discovery Tool" by Hesham Allam from the Spring 2010 issue of the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management. Allam provides a review of social tagging and the research surrounding it. I found the studies about tagging motivation to be enlightening. Having just started using Del.icio.us last semester, I am very much a selfish tagger. I create many tags for websites that would not be useful to other users. For example, while doing research for this class, I will often tag a site with the term "LSC597." Outside of my own mind, and perhaps the twenty or so other people in this class, the tag is meaningless. Findings suggest, however, that people who are more aware of their social presence are more likely to participate in "altruistic" tagging for the benefit of the entire community. Clearly I do not have a strongly perceived online social presence yet!