LibertyRoad

You write:

Please feel free to comment with a pointer to your own blog or if you have any advice that goes beyond how to search our blogging directory.

While searching is important, I've been thinking about "findability" lately. The blogging server we use, MovableType provides Penn State bloggers with the ability to "tag" entries. Not enough of us are using the "Tag" feature as I point out in my Please Feed the Web blog entry from last month (I know shameless self promotion again!).

By using "Tags" and the built in search features of MT, we can build aggregated feeds on individual topics from many Penn State bloggers. When using the Tags feature, be sure to use more general terms (e.g. technology, IT, library) in addition to the more specific terms (e.g. piezoelectronics, analytics, AARC2). While someone may continue to read your blog because of the specific terms, they are more likely to find your blog because of the more general terms.

Keep those entries coming, but Please feed the Web!

An excellent point. I must go back and re-examine my tags for my humble beginnings of a blog.

Jim's on to powerful stuff here!

One of the neatest things about tags in how their frequency of use can be depicted graphically in a tag cloud. Those tags used more frequently appear more prominently, because they're displayed in a larger font.
This amounts to a positive feedback system, as frequently used tags, appearing more prominently, might be selected for use more frequently.

So - tag clouds aggregating the tags assigned to a large number of objects by a large number of people are a mechanism by which a "folksonomy" starts to control itself, evolving into a psuedo-controlled vocabulary.

Cool stuff!

Now, imagine if a service could be provided: a web-accessible, cross-application, cross-platform, get-at-it-from-anywhere, PSU-centric tag cloud! (We could even permit context-specific views of the tag cloud: the College of Engineering tag cloud or the First Year Student tag cloud.)

Then, we let content and information objects accrue tagging as they pass through various stages of our many information life cycles, sweeten the departmental entries in our enterprise directory with some of this, persuade our home page search engine to factor tags into its results weighting, and we're cookin' with gas!

p.s.

Now, how do I tag a comment?

Have I got a job for you :) .

There is lots more we could do with search and the GSA. Are we in a position to do that? I encourage you to followup in email - there may be a pony in here with a blue ribbon around its neck.

As for tagging comments - I can't claim to be an MT expert. Sorry.

insert comment from GSA admin...Google is tight-lipped and very protective of their ranking schema. However, let's see what we can do...especially once blogs become more open to the general population. Right now, the appliance doesn't crawl www.personal, and blogs.psu is behind WebAccess. Perhaps an opt-in to search functionality to blogs? I can see some usefulness to perhaps creating a collection that focuses on blogs and tagging found therein or using the feed API to push information to the GSA. In other words, yes, I think we could come up with a few possibilities.

Even using search and tags, one can still fine his or herself facing a mountain of content.

I have been having lots of conversations with my colleagues about this issue.

How about a PSU digg-like model? It could tie content together from sources all around PSU. Along the lines of what Michael was saying, it could have views for Different Colleges, Organizations, or User attributes.

Users would self-select in to have their content included on this site. Most important content at any given time for a given category rises to the top.