On Tags, Tagging and Taxonomy

I can't remember at the moment where I read it in the last couple days. Scratch that. It just popped in. It was over at HypergeneMediaBlog. The comment was about why newspapers were clinging to the idea of stuffing all their content into eight 'bins' (or sections) online when other possibilities existed. Namely, tagging. I've just recently started working with Druapl CMS and I love the possibilities it offers for categorizing content.

Also recently (to little or no fanfare) someone has added tagging to Scoop CMS, which I'm using for Muncie Free Press. Now, one of the complaints I'm getting from users is how dissimilar Muncie Free Press is to typical newspaper 'forums.' Admitedly, Scoop's section/topic system isn't the easiest to comprehend at first - especially for web newbies.

(On a side note - MFP is an odd combo; part traditional news site and part community. I really, really want to take a peek at NewsVine, if anyone's listening. ;)

Anyway, I've started tagging all the new stories (and most of the old) using the new tagging feature in Scoop. Basically, you add a comma seperated list. Then, that story is available via any of those keywords. I'm experimenting with use and placement - do people like to read stories by geographic region (i.e. city) rather than subject matter of the story? Why can't they get to the information from both directions?

The Editor at the local paper I used to work for recently wrote a column hyping their website redesign. While some of it may be better, it's still stuck in a web 1.0 world because the property (the newspaper) doesn't generate enough revenue from online to justify having people developing the site. It's much easier for Gannett to use economies of scale and shovel the content online in a central location, using the same software.

I'm kinda getting off track here a little, but it's all related. 2006 is the year for CitJ perhaps. Those of us who have escaped or been banished from big media are out here in the wasteland coding - thinking up new ways to present the information. Our economy of creativity.

Because I surely didn't come up with the tagging concept, but I can adapt it to my needs at Muncie Free Press. Problems still remain - a steady revenue stream, a faster increase of the local/regional userbase - but this tagging thing gives me hope. It's a little change I was able to make that may have a big impact with how people interact on the site. I don't want to 'dumb it down' to a simple forum and lose the editorial advantages Scoop offers me.

Anyway, as I was saying. Tagging is cool. I'm discouraged now more than ever, past the six month point, but I see hope too, if I can just hang on. (Images of Luke Skywalker hanging on for dear life underneath Cloud City, waiting for the Millenium Falcon...)

Anyone have any thoughts on tagging?

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