Folders and Tagging pattern for a shared files?

Question

I'm developing a user interface for an enterprise product that has programs that are created, run, and shared by members of an organization (i.e. a company).

I want users to be able to easily find and programs that other team members have created. We're incorporating filtered search and attribute based tags (i.e. tagging programs by type) in our retrieval model but the idea of shared folder or tagging system has come up as a way to help users organize files.

My concern is that shared folder and tagging systems can become messy. Each member may have there own convention for naming folders and tags. For the system to remain organized, the org has to come up with a best practice for naming these folders/tags.

Are there any examples for shared folder/tagging systems that are sustainable? I'm currently looking at 3 models; shared folders, shared tags, and client side folders (i.e. everyone has their own folder system for organizing shared programs). All three look potentially messy.

Thanks for reading my question!

Answer 1

I will likely answer with more information later, but I am working on a quite similar problem. I would suggest looking at the following resources, which offer extended discussions of the issues you seek to solve:

Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger

Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management by William Jones

Hopefully this will get you started along a good path.