Group Hug-!(Now more text-y and link-y-!)

I wasn't expecting to have to do much de novo for the KCLS Learning 2.0 coursework (*) since I've been noodling about on the 'nets for a while now, and this week's excercise was no exception. But I did discover something nifty. (For "geek" and "nerd" values of "nift") We're covering "Flickr," the site which, as you know Bob, is more than just a free convenient place to

1. Upload photos of the baby for all her adoring relations to view, or


2. Dump images for your blog because you're too cheap to get the paid account with file-space.

No! There's more: Flickr is also all about the community and the sharing (Mmmmm. Sharing) and--here's what I hadn't been paying attention to--do you know what powers this (virtual) visual group hug--? Wait for it...

Cataloging!

Yes, my dear Bob, it's the tags, those descriptive terms slapped on the books media images that enable Flickr users to group like items together and find what they're looking for. There's even the sweet little beginnings of an authority file. Which is not to say I'm going to go all taggy on my own Flickr site: I'm not really looking for more (virtual) community in my life--Flickr's still just a tool I'm using along the way to the other things I want to do.

But homework calls: Here's the (properly tagged) photograph to share with my fellow KCLS-ers. I was going to give you a milkmaid, but doing the tag search on that one--? Not what you'd call "family friendly." Instead, I chose Saint Minutia, the Patron Saint of Catalogers (follow the link to "Great Moments in the History of Technical Services.") Now when you search Flickr's tags for "catalogers" you get her, too. Go St. Min--!

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(*) "Library 2.0" is library-speak for all the groovy intramanet stuff your teenager discovered 4 years ago: blogging, podcasts, MySpace, YouTube... Since I'm a Michael Gorman fangirl ("there is no communication without automation) it's all good.