Reading Clouds: An Analysis of Group Tag Clouds on Flickr

Building off of previous social tagging research, the author of this thesis investigated social tagging on Flickr, examined several collectively produced tag clouds on the Web site, and analyzed the discourses generated by, and generating, the tags displayed in these tag clouds. By applying a semiotic analysis, this thesis found that tag clouds are sign systems that are made meaningful through the codes and conventions constituting these clouds and in doing so was able to interpret the social “realities” group tag clouds construct. Specifically, this study explicated the ideological function of group tag clouds and identified six connotative codes that can be usefully applied to further social tagging and tag cloud research.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Archer, Jason

• social tagging

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/14801

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/14801