Over the last few weeks I've implemented tagging for Trac (the wiki side of things for now). Here's a relevant blog entry: http://muness.blogspot.com/2005/01/tags-for-trac.h tml.
In wikis, tags can be "linked to the wiki entry of the same name, allowing you to describe them explicitly under the wiki entry of the same name. This allows for a flexible means for establishing the context of wiki entries." This makes them a lot more expressive than in del.icio.us or flickr.
Also, querying tags is weak right now. Full set operations should be supported. Also, most tag systems seem to ignore hierarchies. There's no reason for that.
'"True Names" today reads more like a piece of reportage than speculative science fiction. William Gibson may get all the glory for defining the word "cyberspace," but Vinge actually nailed the details. "True Names" includes online gathering places identical to the MUDs (multi-user domains) that became the online rage in the late '80s. Its protagonists guard their real names from the National Security Agency and other hackers with cryptographic safeguards, just like today's cryptopunks'.
The internet ("True Names"), computer generated photo-realistic movies ("The Accomplice"), Human-Computer interfaces ("Bookworm, Run!" and his real time stories - "The Peace War" and others).
He wrote "The Accomplice" in the 60's and set it in '93 so he was almost right-on in that case.
Slashdot Mirror
Over the last few weeks I've implemented tagging for Trac (the wiki side of things for now). Here's a relevant blog entry: http://muness.blogspot.com/2005/01/tags-for-trac.h tml .
In wikis, tags can be "linked to the wiki entry of the same name, allowing you to describe them explicitly under the wiki entry of the same name. This allows for a flexible means for establishing the context of wiki entries." This makes them a lot more expressive than in del.icio.us or flickr.
Also, querying tags is weak right now. Full set operations should be supported. Also, most tag systems seem to ignore hierarchies. There's no reason for that.
Salon had an article on him some time back. [ http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/04/05/vinge / ].
The internet ("True Names"), computer generated photo-realistic movies ("The Accomplice"), Human-Computer interfaces ("Bookworm, Run!" and his real time stories - "The Peace War" and others).
He wrote "The Accomplice" in the 60's and set it in '93 so he was almost right-on in that case.
His prediction of a coming Singularity are pretty interesting too. [ http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~phoenix/vinge/vinge-s ing.html ].