An evaluation of enhancing social tagging with a knowledge organization system

Abstract
Traditional subject indexing and classification are considered infeasible in many digital
collections. Automated means and social tagging are often suggested as the two possible
solutions. Both, however, have disadvantages and, depending on the purpose of use or context,
require additional manual input. This study investigates ways of enhancing social tagging via
knowledge organization systems, with a view to improving the quality of tags for increased
information discovery and retrieval performance. Benefits of using both social tags and controlled
terms are also explored, including enriching knowledge organization systems with new concepts.