Well, I don't want to say that I thought of it first... well, I did. Anyway, that's just because I'm Greek and of course the Greeks invented everything. In any case, tagging was released on the NI Forums recently:



I was thinking of installing a tagging system on LAVA, before NI decided to release it on their forums, but decided not to because I don't find it useful myself. Perhaps I'm wrong and you all really want it. Well, do you?

I've never gotten much out of tagging systems. I don't have anything against them per se -- I just don't get them most of the time. They seem great for associating searchable criteria with things that don't intrinsically include searchable data (for instance, it's hard to search for "pictures of horses" or "Ukrainian Gypsy Punk Music"). But LAVA posts strike me as being eminently searchable by virtue of the fact that they're text.

If anybody can enlighten me as to why tags on message boards are good for anything other than making tag clouds, my ears are open.

No, I don't thing we need tagging of posts.

Speaking of tagging, check out the tagmaps technology that yahoo is working on. It shows a tag cloud overlayed on a map. It uses a cool algorithm to only show you tags at the resolution you are looking at. The further in you zoom, the more specific the tags become.

For an example of cool stuff you'll find, check out Yoda in the Presido.

Guess I'm just not geek enough. {wife won't let me}. ..... does that make me more geek?..... no... probably not... more like something lower... good god... i'm someone that wants to be a geek.....




that's down there

I was thinking the same thing when I noticed some of my NI forum posts has some tags applied. I commend the people who are trying to add the tags, but I don't see how tagging a post about using SLIP and PPP with the tags SLIP and PPP is going to improve the experience. If tags are to be used, it should be to tag a question asked from a non-LabVIEW perspective with LabVIEW vernacular or with words that can lead a reader to a solution to their problem. The keywords SLIP PPP are already there...

Some time ago there was some feature on the LAVA forums that would auto-rewrite things like LabVIEW as LabVIEW or NI as National Instruments. Maybe something could be done with the Wiki tagging to automagically add links to the Wiki subject for "functional global variable" (added in this case using Insert Special Item) by simply mentioning it in a post; or maybe a button at the top of the editor window to "create links for recognized Wiki terms" if automagically is too intrusive to the members.

(After posting, I see that "L_V" is still rewritten as LabVIEW )

I've always thought it would be cute if things like LabVIEW datatypes were automatically replaced by a little image of the terminal, e.g. :U16: would become . Like a little datatype-smiley!

I'll confess to that tag.

I have never used tags so I don't understand the rules. Lacking rules, I just made up my own. It is not the individual tag words themselves that are important but rather the tags that are used together for the same post. In the case of "SLIP" that tag will also show you the related tags, in this case "Bluetooth", "IP_Over_Serial", "PPP", and "VI_Server".

My hope is to build a web of realted terms such that novices can chase down related terms that do not show up in a normal serach.

And for my part, I use these backwards when I can't remeber "SLIP" but I can remember IP_Over_Serial.

And because the tags are all public, I can use the realationships defined by others.

As to tagging on LAVA;
The earlier we start it, the better LAVA will be in the long run.

Ben

PS:I will re-post some of this to the afore cited NI thread to try and get more feedback.

No need to host them on your own server; you can get that one and many others from the Block Diagram Images Wiki page...


As I think about it more, tagging SLIP PPP etc. is probably fine.

It allows the forum members to create an info-base that applies weight to certain data that might not show up high on a classic search. As Justin said, applying tags to unsearchable items is great (pics, audio, or even LabVIEW source files?!) Maybe tagging posts containing block diagram images and VIs that can't be searched by keyword would be helpful.

The first thing that comes to mind are some of Christian Altenbach's great examples like rotating an image. He provides code and screen shots that are good enough to be shipping examples/documentation (that's another story).I will watch with interest how the tagging works out on the "other side". (I'm only a Proven Veteran and can't participate for now... )

I think tagging in general is a good idea, although the current model used in the NI forums might not be the best one.

I say we should wait to see how the system works over there and see what to do here only after it's been in use for a while.

I don't think it would be very useful. Tagging seems to be used mostly as a way to categorize things, especially blog posts, which don't generally have a categorization scheme in place. There is already a categorization process here on LAVA, in the form of which forum and which sub-forum something is posted to. I can see myself going to Technorati and looking at tag clouds just to see what people are talking about this week, but I don't see myself wanting to go the LAVA forums (or the NI forums, frankly) and wonder "What sort of things have people been asking questions about lately?"

Tagging can also be used to preserve specific pieces of information if it is used in conjunction with a search engine, but it requires some discipline and a good interface.

it's interesting that there's approx. 350 topic views but only 12 votes. Now I realize not every view is unique but sometimes you gotta wonder...