Tags, Tagging and Information Diffusion

I was was gazing at some train tags--some nice bombs in the train yard with my littler brother, who happens to be a graffiti artist.  He interpreted the tags and bombs I could not read.  He and I read me all kinds of information from throughout the country, from LA, to Chicago, to Seattle and other places.  Then a train yard cop came and chased us away.

Tags in Denmark

My brother Jaimie used to be well known throughout San Jo as Daze2000 back in the 80's, then went on to LOVE and other names throughout the years.  He's retired now.

For those unfamiliar with tagging--here is a sufficient definition from Wikipedia:

Some of the most common styles of graffiti have their own names. A "tag" is the most basic writing of an artist's name, it is simply a handstyle. A graffiti writer's tag is his or her personalized signature. Tagging is often the example given when opponents of graffiti refer to any acts of handstyle graffiti writing (it is by far the most common form of graffiti). Tags can contain subtle and sometimes cryptic messages, and may incorporate the artist's crew initials or other letters.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_(graffiti)

Back in the day, I could be anywhere in San Jose and see my brother's tag.  I would immediately know it was him, and that he was getting up in a variety of places.  Tags can also be used for groups, or "crews" of artists, who tag their territory--similar to gang tags.  Gang tags convey a host of meanings to those who are aware of them.  They convey the name of the gang, that gangs history, and the implicit threat that this is "their" territory and they will protect it, etc..

Fab Five Freddy's tag travelling throughout NYC.

The above is a characterization of tagging as a folksonomy by artists and by gangsters.  The tags carry meaning, information and knowledge can be gleaned from them--for instance, the knowledge the one is in a particular gang's territory and more.

I would liken the above to information tagging on files on the internet and in computer systems in general.  There is a relationship between the two types of tagging that has yet to be explored.

Graffiti Tagging	Information Tagging
Imparts information to readers	Imparts information to users
Is portable, can travel	Is portable, can travel
Is a system of social classification	Is a system of social classification
Can be collaboratively created, or at least understood	Collaboratively created
Can be broad or narrow folksonomies	Can be broad or narrow folksonomies
Is a folksonomy	Is a folksonomy
Can satisfy information needs	Can satisfy information needs

Tagging information

Tagging became popular during the social software craze known as Web 2.0.  Pre-Yahoo Flickr was a major player when it came to bring tagging as a folksonomy on the web to the masses.

Graffiti tagging on buses or trains conveys travelling information--the tags are carried around town or around the country and people are shown the tag.  I would liken this to searching via tags in tag clouds or by other means--one will travel to the place where the information is located--it is in a way opposite of graffiti tagging, but closely related.


The above is meant to be a super brief sketch of an idea.  What do you think?  Do you agree?  Disagree?  Have something to add?


I would like to open up the study of the relationship between Hip Hop culture and Information Science.

Hip-Hop and Web 2.0 (something I wrote a long time ago and haven't done anything with)

[If anyone is interested in this and wants to collaborate--get in touch with me please]


This is kind of an outline of the paper I want to write on hip-hop. Please give me your advice about how I could make it better.

I've noticed some striking similarities between hip-hop and our field--web 2.0 aspects and more.

Take for instance one fundamental aspect of hip hop--REMIXABILITY--one takes what one deems is valuable, and creates something new.

Mashups have been fundamental in hip hop since day one!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remix


The fact that knowledge does not come from a vacuum, and pretty much EVERYONE who has contributed important knowledge to the world has had a teacher who's ideas the student REMIXED.

Take Franz Brentano for instance--he taught both Edumund Husserl and Freud, while Freud went on to teach Jung, and Husserl went on to teach Heidegger. The students REMIX their teachers work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Brentano

Tagging--hip hop tagging is placing one's mark on something, claiming it as one's own--this is what we do when we tag something in flickr, or whatever we use that gives us the option to TAG something. We can find it again, so with tagging, when one, or others see the tag they know who tagged it, and how often it comes up—how much the tagger has gotten “thrown up.”

Not only do we make it our own, but we also influence others. When someone tags a train they throw some art up there that is distinctive. I'm talking about bombs--where they don't just write their name as the tag, but they put on the train. If someone becomes familiar with these types of tags--they can tell which tagger is which and know their styles.


http://www.graffiti.org/


This is similar to the tagging we do on the web, and to how information is transferred between people--be it artistic style, or some other type of information. Our tagging can influence others through the discovery of new information that leads to the creation of new knowledge.



Also the fact that hip-hop and web 2.0 did NOT come from big corporations.

Hip Hop came from a small group of individuals, and web 2.0 also came from a relatively small group of individuals developing new ideas that were creative as well as social.

I mean when hip hop was first developed--the dj's would plug-in to the street lights and broadcast their mashups and new beats to the public, who in turn remixed this new information into knew knowledge to create something new. It was fully open-source and free. How beautiful can you get? This was actually a result of a remix from the Caribbean—dJ cool-herc came to nuy from there and brought the style, and influence of the Caribbean DJ’s who would put their systems on the backs of trucks and broadcast their shows to entire neighborhoods.


Do you know of anyone who has done any work on this?

I've never encountered it.

I think it can be a way to reach both people interested in libraries and hip hop.


What do you think?