Week 7, Thing 16: Technocrati Reconsidered and Tagging Part II

Well, I'm taking back most of what I said about Technocrati in a previous post. This week's task was to take a closer look at the blog directory site. I hadn't noticed the Tag Index in my last visit to the website and I enjoyed having a look at some of the post popular tags used on the website in the last month (I even found that my favourite soccer team was top tag - Arsenal!!).

The Tag Index is a neat way to get an overview of some of the more popular subjects of the time.  For example, under the letter C I saw that Copenhagen and China are the top two tags. Copenhagen because of the upcoming UN Climate Conference in that city; and China because, well, probably because Obama and Harper have visited the country in the last couple of weeks. The top three tags under the letter F are Facebook, Fort Hood, and, big surprise here, flu.

The Technocrati Tag Index is a great way to monitor popular social and political trends. In 1000 years tags might be important factors for historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and other researchers to understand today's social climates. By quickly glancing at an alphabatized list of commonly used words, we get insight into what is going on in ths blogosphere and the popular conscience.