While working on the implications of better tagging and better learning (as part of syndication and search) I recently visited Rashmi Sinha’s site (as recommended by Chris Messina whom I found via Tara Hunt who was RageBoyed my way). Very interesting post on collaborative filtering and tags, something that everyone interested in that space should read. IMO anyway.
I particularly like the point being made about user-generated content being the key, the trigger. I quote from Rashmi:
But I think I do finally understand why collaborative filtering is being dragged out of closets, dusted and prettied up in this new world of tags, Web 2.0 and Long Tail. One of the roadblocks to collaborative filtering is user input, some expression of interest by a user that you can hook into. Tags provide such a hook. On the other hand, tags desperately need good ways of supporting findability. As I argued before, you can go only so far with lists. Which is why we are seeing interests in clusters, facets and collaborative filtering. Additionally, both tags and collaborative filtering provide inroads into the Long Tail.
I’m going to spend some time thinking about what she’s written, it takes some digesting. But I cannot help but feel this is important in the context of Four Pillars. Where collaborative filtering meets tags is where I can see the Bond Driver and the Learn Driver begin to do different things. [For those who have not read my earlier posts, this is a reference to the Nohria and Lawrence Four Driver model]