Rachel Bridgewater and Jane Scott talked about mining social bookmarking tools as one way to gain insight into our users "desire lines" at Online Northwest 2006.
In the world of urban planning, planners often use "desire lines" to assist them in their planning choices. Desire lines are those well-worn paths that appear in public places that expose the paths that real pedestrians want to take, as opposed to the ones laid out to them by sidewalks.
Does the social bookmarking craze present an opportunity for librarians to see "desire lines" in the web world? Over time, what new insights might we gain about how our users think about the information they use.
More about desire lines:
Way more about paths at UC Berkeley than you'd ever want to read - Peter Merholtz
Paths cut in the grass in front of the Hotel Moskva
Photo by Phil Gyford
