Frankly, Technorati confuses me, and sent me into a week-long tailspin. I can't much find my way around. I finally found that "Advanced Search" would let me search by blog title, blog entry, and keyword. But I couldn't say that I'd be able to predict yet which choice would find what I would be looking for. It would get me lots of twists and turns. Maybe if I found some particular blogger or blog that I liked, found informative, or found funny, I'd keep going back and feel better about Technorati.
I do, however, find tags fun. The advantages, of course, are that everyone can decide how they want their blog, photo, favorite sites, etc. to be found; what they think is important about their entry; who their desired audience and how they think those folks would search for an entry. In this way, tagging is another way to look out there and find your communities - how do you all name something in the same way? It's also instructive to see what the blogosphere is finding au courant.
The negatives, of course, are the long-recognized differences between natural language and contolled vocabulary. Everyone, in effect, agrees to describe the same thing in the same way. That allows those in the know to find EXACTLY what is sought. Tags make you surf around to find what you want; and there is little assurance that you've got everything.
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I was also unnerved by Technorati and decided that it was my one bad moment in this class, which isn't too bad if there's only one. It was too busy and overwhelming. I think we're not the only ones who felt this way.
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