1.
Thud! Ouch! Thud! Ouch! Thud! Ouch!
These are the sweet sounds of my skull meeting my desk. For the first time in this course I found some cyber resistance, it would appear that the computers are now developing feelings and are sick of being told what to do by me! "What are you doing Hal?" This also marks first time I looked at or even heard of Social Bookmarking. So I come into this completely fresh, completely blind, completely.......LOST! So as usual I begin by looking at the beginning of the phenomenon, shockingly wikipedia marks the beginning of shared bookmarks back to April 1996. Light years ago in the computer time line. The sites from that era are all at the tar pits now, but 10 years later in an article from Webology titled; Library 2.0: Web 2.0 and its Implications for Librairies would state the incredible upside of Social Networks to librairies and education. Such a large gap from the beginning until that article was printed, it would seem that the concept took some time to fine tune.
After reading a couple of articles and Will Richardson's book two social bookmarking sites jumped out at me Delicious and Furl. Delicious began in 2003 and started the term "social bookmarking" and more importantly pioneered tagging. Tagging is a major component to this tool. The user is attaching key words to the site being saved, the computer is not categorizing it. Teaching Today had an article on social bookmarking where this is mentioned. " The advantage in using social bookmarking is the human collaboration involved in the searching framework." As opposed to the computer robot programs of say Google search which is based on popularity and not neccessarily the content.
Signing up for Delicious was extremely easy, navigating and searching the site was not as smooth, perhaps I did type in enough key words to narrow my searches. My main issue was trying to get the tool bar downloaded and set up on my computers. This was excruciating, of course my desktop at work and my laptop at home are both not mine, so the security settings may have been my down fall. Without the toolbar the ease of the site lost its magic.
Furl, well let me tell you of this great adventure. Richardson goes on and on about the wonderfulness of Furl in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. So away I go to discover them all, but alas Tom can't find it anywhere? Eventually a fellow classmate informs me that Diigo purchased Furl. This never came up in any of my searches, crummy robot searches! So to Diigo I go, again painless initiation and the potential of this site is GLORIOUS, but again Hal has decided no tool bar for Tom. Another classmate (thank goodness for collabortation, no wonder these user generated tools work!) has guided me to an option which should rectify my grief.
2.
Of the 3 tools we've explored thus far, photosharing, videosharing, and social bookmarking I find the latter to be my favourite. I know I loved the first two as they were fun personally, and I knew somewhat of what they were prior to this course. Social bookmarking has enormous potential for me personally, even with my issues in setting up. Right now I'm working towards my Master's, I'm taking two courses, and constantly trying to keep on top of things in my profession, as well as my personal interests. The tools offered with Diigo are outstanding. Highlighting text, placing post its, saving the actual page(s) and not just the URL are just some of the beneficial options offered. These along with the tagging, sharing, and ability to access Diigo from any computer make it the full meal deal.
3.
Obviously this tool is excellent in an educational forum. In the Webology article they discuss the theory of Library 2.0 and four essential elements: 1. user-centered, 2. multi-media, 3. socially rich, and 4. communally innovative. Social bookmarking embraces all of these attributes. Teaching Today goes one step further and states that using this tool in the classroom will; improve classroom management, enhance collaboration between students/students, and students/teachers, and finally improve students ability to gather links to important current and historical events.
Even with the few frustrations and unknowns I came across with this assignment, I find this tool to be the most useful yet for myself both personally and professionally. I will definitely work out the kinks with Diigo and continue to explore and use it in the future. I've added a little video I made when I was struggling with this assignment, a distraction to stave off the impending madness, "all work and no play, make...." well you know the rest.
Notes:
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. The social web: Learning together, (pg. 89-100).
Thanks for reading my book. Furl has been taken out of the 3rd Edition which comes out in March, but congrats to you for working with your colleagues to work it out on your own.
ReplyDeleteWow, nice to get a comment from Will Richardson, the guru of Web 2.0. You have definitely come into your 'blogging' voice and your movie was a nice touch. I agree that social bookmarking really is a fantastic tool for teacher-librarians and grad students. Now I use Diigo all the time and it has become another source for research. I still need a lot more time to get comfortable with the more advanced features but will continue working at it.
ReplyDeleteNicola
No kidding Niclola, I look forward to being comfortable with Diigo (ex-furl) as the potential is fantastic the options are really quite great. Like you said I just need more time.
ReplyDeleteHey pal, nice to have a comment from Will Richardson.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your movie too - my morning chuckle.
There seems to be agreement from our classmates that this tool is one of our favourites. I have heard of social bookmarking sites before but they often were followed by negative comments and so I have never pursued learning more about them. But like you, I found them easy to use and very valubale.