About

The Folksonomy is a knowledge commons and social bookmarking tool of digital culture and creative practice. The tool has been created by Simon Perkins as part of his research enquiry. It has been designed to enable theory building and knowledge integration. The Folksonomy simplifies the process of clipping references including photographs, videos and published documents. In this way the tool helps to promote a type of conceptualisation described by Ernest Boyer as the "scholarship of integration" (Ernest Boyer, 1990).

Significantly the tool employs a 'bottom-up' taxonomic method to organise content. This method is colloquially referred to as a 'folksonomy' - where content is able to simultaneously belong to multiple and sometimes contradictory categories. The logic of a folksonomy sits in stark contrast to the more traditional logic conventionally employed by libraries and computer operating systems where books and files are organised according to linear, centralised and hierarchical form.

Folksonomies promote a type of similitude that extends from the polysemic nature of language. In this way folksonomies provide a means of privileging interpretation without recourse to a universal and singular definition. As an application of this logic the Folksonomy tool helps users to "language reality into [and out of] existence" (Whorf 1956).



The tool has been created as a logical development of the Constellations website and is a revision of an earlier Folksonomy prototype. It has been developed by Simon Perkins who created the software architecture and Shu-Min Heng who created the interface design. The tool incorporates feedback from users including that from David Rogerson and comments from Nottingham Trent University Multimedia students. The Folksonomy has been created through guidance and support from Barbara Adkins, Mia Thornton, Terry Shave and Brian Griffiths.