Thomas Vander Wal
Encyclopedia
Thomas Vander Wal is an information architect best known for coining the term "folksonomy
". He is also known for initiating the term "infocloud". His work has primarily dealt with the Web
and with information
design
and structure
.
He has worked for the INDUS Corporation in Bethesda, Maryland
, is a member of the Founding Leadership Council for The Information Architecture Institute, and the Steering Committee for the Web Standards Project
(WaSP). He is also the Alumni Tech Lead for Boxes and Arrows magazine.
He spoke at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
Web convention in January 2008.
Folksonomy
A folksonomy is a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content; this practice is also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging...
". He is also known for initiating the term "infocloud". His work has primarily dealt with the Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
and with information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
and structure
Structure
Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society...
.
He has worked for the INDUS Corporation in Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
, is a member of the Founding Leadership Council for The Information Architecture Institute, and the Steering Committee for the Web Standards Project
Web Standards Project
The Web Standards Project is a group of professional web developers dedicated to disseminating and encouraging the use of the web standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium, along with other groups and standards bodies....
(WaSP). He is also the Alumni Tech Lead for Boxes and Arrows magazine.
He spoke at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
The Association of Alternative Newsmedia is a diverse group of covering every major metropolitan area and other less-populated regions of North America. AAN members have a combined weekly circulation of over 6.5 million as well as a print readership of nearly 17 million active, educated and...
Web convention in January 2008.