I set up a Blogger-powered blog the other day to organize the 50+ responses I received to a roommate-wanted ad. I chose Blogger because - despite my fondness for Wordpress, Typepad and Vox - it remains the easiest and cheapest way to set up a limited-use blog.

NERD NOTE: Blogger is blog software, owned by Google. It produces blogs with the URL sampleblog.blogspot.com, so some people mistakenly refer to it as Blogspot. [Wikipedia on Blogger software].

I was surprised to see that Blogger had eliminated categories from the posting field, replacing categories with labels (or tags). A bit of research indicates this shift took place during the 2006 Google takeover.

This is important - a shift from a rigid taxonomy to a looser folksonomy - in arguably the world’s most used blogging software. It also serves as an introduction to the important concepts of tagging and folksonomy - bedrocks of the Web 2.0 movement.

Why is tagging important? Watch this short video Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us

So, what is a taxonomy?

A structured, “print-think” way of organizing content, based upon rigid classifications. [i.e. Movies > Capsule Reviews; News > Economic]. Not only can these categorizations be difficult for online editors to make, but they hinder the readers from finding content they might otherwise be interested in. (For example, a Cat Power DVD review could be filed under either music or movies, potentially obscuring it from readers.)

A folksonomy is an alternative …

Looser, “user-generated” categorizations of content, based on tags and keywords. These categorizations tend to be more free-flowing, and aid in the serendipity of finding content. Tags or keywords can be author-applied (as in the Blogger software), editor-applied, or anyone-applied (as in social bookmarking sites like del.ico.us).
[Wikipedia on folksonomy].

You may be familiar with tagging folksonomies from sites like Flickr, which allow users to browse and search images based on keywords.

Try browsing using tags on AAN’s Flickr account.

So, how do folksonomies and tagging apply to alt websites?

Imagine the alt website of the future. Instead of website categories that correspond to print sections (music, food, arts&entertainment); the website would be organized by keyword content; both editor- and user-applied. When reading a story on recent gay rights legislation; tags like [gayrights family legislation vermont divorce custody gay lesbian alternative children adoption] would offer a user many different options for continuing to read content that interested them. Clicking on ‘gayrights’ would display all stories on the site tagged with that keyword; most of which would be invisible to a reader under the current ‘taxonomy’ organization theme.

Suddenly, dusty website archives would be transformed - into accessible, relevant deep-well evergreen content. How - alternative!

What do you think?

This blog utilizes a modified folksonomy - you’ll see the ‘tag cloud’ labeled Topics to the right of this post. We’re hard at work on a redesign of AltWeeklies.com that will use a modified folksonomy - more on that later.

Do you think folksonomies work for your website? Will print taxonomies continue to be relevant as physical papers downsize and move content to the web? Or is tagging a fad?

Recently, the editor of an AAN paper asked for suggestions on improving his paper’s website. I received permission to blog my answer to him - so that we all could offer ideas.

Above the fold

“Above the fold” is a term leftover from print newspaper days, but it has relevance in the online world, where users rarely scroll down the homepage to view additional content. [See Poynter’s EyeTrack Studies.]

So what’s visible above the fold? Navigation, ad content, a rotating story/image teaser, a link to the cover story, and 3 upcoming events.

What’s below the fold? Tons of articles, more ad content, and listings search engines.

Five Quick Ideas for Improving this Site

1. Revamp the ‘above the fold’ space on the homepage. Move search for events and restaurants into a prominent position. Shrink the size of the rotating image (if it is kept), and add navigational elements that allow readers to flip back to the 3rd or last image they saw.

2. Make it a conversation. Add commenting functionality to articles. Consider displaying user comments on your homepage or on the section fronts to let readers know their voices are being heard. Including “bloggers linking here” links from technorati on articles.

3. Write headlines for the web. “Lonely Rose,” “Hay Ride,” and “Fuzzy Math” are clever headlines that work well in print layouts with images and subheads as context clues, but to readers who scan online, they don’t contain enough information. (Nor are they particularly search engine friendly.)

4. Invest in events listings. It can be a tremendous amount of work on the backend, but users expect the robust events listings functionality that they can find from sites as varied as Pollstar, Upcoming.org, and Eventful. I could only find 1 music event on this site, but I know there are many in the print edition.

5. Consider a ‘daily’ content strategy. This one is a toughie. But no matter how well designed a site of Thursday’s content is, it will be old hat to readers on Tuesdays. Brainstorm ways to get material on the website daily - publishing syndicated or feature stories online before they are printed, for example. Create robust events listings that feature ‘things to do today’ on the homepage every day.

Does anyone else have ideas for improving this website? What has worked for you?