Thing 15! But I want Web 3.0

In my recently completed tour through library school, I had to do a HUGE project on Web 3.0, the Semantic Web. Web 2.0 is nice, folksonomies and all the sharing but Web 3.0 is awesome and terrifying. This is where Isaac Asimov comes in - computers that can book a dental appointment by synchronizing your calendar with the dentist's and ensuring you find an office nearby and in your insurance plan. Spooooooky. But the purpose of Thing 15 is to discuss 2.0 so . . . tagging. Tagging with Web 2.0 makes me simultaneously happy and sad. It is good to allow users to tag materials because they will be easily found using natural language and people get an understanding of how to classify things. It is bad because there is no authority control, tags can be assigned that are completely irrelevant or that are just variations or misspellings of an accurate tag, things may never be found because no one was able to describe it accurately. I specialized during my degree process in information organization and so spent a lot of time with the AACR2 and LOC Subject Headings. I love cataloging and think that good catalogers are both highly trained and aware of the audience for whom the materials are being cataloged. What a librarian would look up is often different from what a patron would look up - enter the reference interview. But, as we venture forth into a new world of communication via Twitter and online/text message reference, Web 2.0 will ensure everyone communicates successfully.