In information system
An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, information storage, store, and information distribution, distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems ar ...
s, a tag is a keyword or term assigned to a piece of information (such as an Internet bookmark
In the context of the World Wide Web, a bookmark is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that is stored for later retrieval in any of various storage formats. All modern web browsers include Comparison of web browsers#Browser features, bookmark fe ...
, digital image
A digital image is an image
An image (from la, imago) is an artifact that depicts visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment (biophysical), environment through photopic vision (day ...
, database record, or computer file
A computer file is a computer resource for recording data
Data (; ) are individual facts, statistics, or items of information, often numeric. In a more technical sense, data are a set of values of qualitative property, qualitative or quant ...
). This kind of metadata
Metadata is "data
Data (; ) are individual facts, statistics, or items of information, often numeric. In a more technical sense, data are a set of values of qualitative property, qualitative or quantity, quantitative variable (research), v ...
helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. Tags are generally chosen informally and personally by the item's creator or by its viewer, depending on the system, although they may also be chosen from a controlled vocabulary
Controlled vocabularies provide a way to organize knowledge for subsequent retrieval. They are used in subject indexing Subject indexing is the act of describing or classifying a document
A document is a written
Writing is a medium of ...
.
Tagging was popularized by website
A website (also written as web site) is a collection of web page
A web page (or webpage) is a hypertext
Hypertext is text displayed on a or other with references () to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hyperte ...
s associated with Web 2.0
Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to website
A website (also written as web site) is a collection of web page
A web page (or webpage) is a hypertext
Hypertext is text display ...
and is an important feature of many Web 2.0 services. It is now also part of other database system
In computing, a database is an organized collection of Data (computing), data stored and accessed electronically from a computer system. Where databases are more complex they are often developed using formal #Design and modeling, design and mode ...
s, desktop application
Application software (app for short) is computing software designed to carry out a specific task other than one relating to the operation of the computer itself, typically to be used by end-users. Examples of an application
Application may refer ...
s, and operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software
System software is software designed to provide a platform for other software. Examples of system software include operating systems (OS) like macOS, Linux, Android (operating system), Android and Mi ...
s.
Overview
People use tags to aidclassification Classification is a process related to categorization
Categorization is the human ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience
Experience refers to conscious
, an English Paracels ...
, mark ownership, note boundaries, and indicate online identity
Internet identity (IID), also online identity or internet persona, is a social identity
Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality, looks and/or expressions that make a person (self-identity
One's self-concept (also called self-cons ...
. Tags may take the form of words, images, or other identifying marks. An analogous example of tags in the physical world is museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection
Collection or Collections may refer to:
* Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department
* Collec ...
object tagging. People were using textual keywords to classify information and objects long before computers. Computer based search algorithm
In computer science, a search algorithm is an algorithm (typically involving a multitude of other, more specific algorithms ) which solves a search problem. Search algorithms work to retrieve information stored within some data structure, or calc ...
s made the use of such keywords a rapid way of exploring records.
Tagging gained popularity due to the growth of social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is an online service which allows users to add, annotate, edit, and share Internet bookmark, bookmarks of web documents. Many online bookmark management services have launched since 1996; Delicious (website), Delicious, founded i ...
, image sharing
Image sharing, or photo sharing, is the publishing or transfer of digital photos online. Image sharing websites offer services such as uploading, hosting, managing and sharing of photos (publicly or privately). This function is provided through ...
, and social networking
A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relation
In social science, a social relation or social interaction is any relationship ...
websites. These sites allow users to create and manage labels (or "tags") that categorize content using simple keywords. Websites that include tags often display collections of tags as tag cloud
A tag cloud (also known as a word cloud, wordle or weighted list in visual design) is a visual representation of text data, which is often used to depict keyword metadata on websites, or to visualize free form text. Tags are usually single wor ...
s,For example, Blogger
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...
and WordPress
WordPress (WP, WordPress.org) is a free and open-source
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software that is both free software and open-source software where anyone is free software license, freely licensed to use, copy, study, and c ...
can display tag clouds. as do some desktop applications.For example: Leap is a macOS
macOS (; previously Mac OS X and later OS X) is a proprietary
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