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The nptech Tag
August 24th, 2005 by genericTags are a way to reference and organize Web content in such a way that 1) frees you from the headache of maintaining bookmarks or other hierarchical tools, 2) allows you to tap into the collective wisdom of other people’s tags while sharing your tags in return, and 3) complements the online search strategies you’re already using.
Marnie Webb’s done some very useful writing on tags and their relevance for nonprofits. I particularly like this metaphor:
So, typically you walk into a library to find
books on a subject and a search of the catalog sends you all over. You
go to Russion lit, history, biography all to find books about a
Soviet-era topic. But what if?You walk into the library
with a stack of post-it notes and write ??Stalin? on the notes and stick
them on the books you want, no matter where they are. Someone else
comes in and sticks ??1942? on the spines of all books written in 1942.
And so on.Now, future users can go to the card catalog and
use the formal taxonomy. Or they can see a list of the post-it note
words. If they want, the library will, and this is the real magic,
rearrange itself according to the post-it notes.That??s how I??ve settled on introducing tagging.
For more general information on what tags are and how to use them, check out Technorati and del.icio.us, two of the most prominent free services that allow you to search by tags, create tags for your own use, and share them with others.
The nptech tag refers to NonProfit Technology, and it’s gaining popularity as a way for people to point to Web content and indicate that it has relevance for nonprofits’ use of technology. A search of Technorati turns up 314 nptech tags, and a search of del.icio.us turns up a few more.
So when you’re looking for nonprofit technology resources online, try an "nptech" search on one of these sites. And if you come across a technology-related resource that you think might be interest to other nonprofit professionals, tag it "nptech" so the rest of us can find it as well.
