When bees search for nector, there are a couple of methods they use. One is to fly around a bit and use their sense of smell. On the web, this is the equivalent of web browsing. The other method is to follow instructions of bees who found nectar using their sense of smell. This is the equivalent of using a web search facility. A bee will perform a dance which involves waggling its tail to tell others at the hive where they can find nectar.

Simulation
http://zool33.uni-graz.at/schmickl/models/bee_foraging_decision.html

This raises a couple of important information seeking issues for the information architect. Firstly, how do we enable people to find information when we can’t provide them with smells or waggle our tails at them? Secondly, what can we learn from this in terms of how we enable users to find things on websites?

I believe that bee foraging behaviour behaviour helps to explain the potential of folksonomies. Look at the simulation at the link above. A tag cloud is a metaphor for bee foraging. Users find content which interests them and tag the content: they smell nectar. The tag cloud tells other users where to find content which might interest them: they respond to the tail waggling dance.

Metaphor
http://del.icio.us/tag/