Presentation about a pilot study done as a part of qualitative research studies

1. Thinking Patterns of Users during
Content Tagging in Social Media Sites
Pilot Study
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Aravind Sesagiri Raamkumar

2. Non-Textual Tagging
Agenda
Research objectives
Significance of the research
Textual Tagging
Proposed methodology
Fieldwork
Initial findings

3. Research Objectives
 Explore key themes that characterize the thought process of users during
content tagging in social media sites
 To use qualitative research methods to validate the key findings of
quantitative & other research studies on tagging behavior:-
Tagging motivations vary across different tagging systems
 Majority of users tend to be categorizers than describers
 Tagging system enhancements (ex: Tag Recommenders) have a
significant impact on user’s tagging behavior
(Strohmaier, 2009)
Categorizer or Describer?
Public use or Personal use?
Consistent or Inconsistent?
Formal vs. Informal?

4. a small but important note…
Tagging in FB with person
and place names is not
free-text tagging!

5. Significance of the Research
Supposedly, first of its kind in qualitative research studies
Finding out new themes hitherto unattained by other research methodologies
Understanding the literacy level of users on the topic of content tagging
So as to emphasize the need for education
Providing an entry point for ontology extraction from folksonomies

6. Methodology
• Researcher motivations – related to core research areas
Build-up (Folksonomy and Ontologies)
to topic • Brief idea of a potential topic
selection
• Survey of literature within discipline
Literature • In this case, it was outside the discipline
Review
• Arriving at the research objectives of the topic in hand
Framing
the topic
Participant
• Validating the applicability of different research approaches
observation
Approach • Selection of the appropriate approach - Mixed methods
selection
• Selecting sampling method - Convenience!
Sampling • Questions for the interview based on research objectives Tagging
Interview
and • Selection of content for tagging exercise Exercise
Questions
 For tagging exercise, certain resources (content) selected on the potential of evoking multiple
interpretations
• Images and web pages used for the exercise can be got from this link

7. Fieldwork
 Two pilot interviews within this pilot study
• To evaluate the appropriateness of interview questions
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the tagging exercise
• To determine the flow of activities
Initial set of Tagging 2nd set of Analyzing user Last set of
questions exercise questions assigned tags questions
 Interviews and tagging exercise conducted in natural settings
 Semi-structured Interviews conducted in native language
 Transcription process and analysis
• Major issues and categories (themes) identified from each transcription
immediately after each interview – concurrent interviewing and analysis

8. Initial Findings Main Themes
Users have a natural desire to describe non-textual content rather than textual content ->
Hence can’t say users tend to be categorizers than describers in general, but…
Users’ tagging behavior consciously changes based on content type and not based on
the system -> Tagging behavior change across systems is an implication!
Users' natural flow of thought is affected by tag enhancement features -> Perhaps, slight
UI changes needed
Users’ (lack of ) understanding of the entire tagging lifecycle is clearly seen in their
perception of the whole process -> Most users (at least Asians) are in need of education
Users think to add tags mainly for public usage and not for personal usage -> Goes with
the expectations of tagging as an activity
Average of three to four tags added per resource - As Tagging as an activity doesn’t seem to demand persuasion!
per NORM

9. Issues & Notes
Unsaturated potential themes
 Users’ tagging behavior is (in)dependant [of/on] personal life experiences
 Users’ tagging behavior changes from casual to formal in professional environments
Issues
 Observation is an inappropriate method for this topic
 Tagging is an activity that normally demands very less attention from users in real word settings
=>High probability of showcasing idealistic behavior during tagging exercise
 Lack of a representative sample
 Volume of content (ex: images) tagged, determines the validity of theme 1
High
Categorization
behavior
Retort to theme 2 =>
Low High
Volume of images uploaded

10. Future Work
A case study approach concentrating on a group of users (perhaps pilot users for a new
tagging based system) could be employed during the Requirements phase
Content analysis and questionnaires are the appropriate methods for analyzing large
samples (n=1000+) along with a few personal interviews – Triangulation
Non-English social media sites could be brought into the purview

11. Thank You
Q&A