Thursday, June 25

#13 (WEEK 6) Learn about tagging and discover Del.icio.us (a social bookmarking site)




Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures, & posts). Unlike traditional library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (e.g., Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data in any way they want.

In the past few weeks, we’ve already explored one site – Flickr - that allows users to take advantage of tagging and in week 3 many of you even used a common tag to create an association between photos that we individually uploaded. This week, in addition to exploring Technorati tagging, we also want to take a look at the popular social bookmarking site Del.icio.us (typed as http://del.icio.us/.)

Why social bookmarking? Well, have you checked your list of favorites or bookmarks on your internet browser lately? If you’re like me, your favorites list may need some pruning or organization. Or, if you don’t happen to be on your regular computer, how do you even remember all the sites you’ve bookmarked?

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page and add tags to categorize your bookmarks.

Many users find that real power of Del.icio.us is in the social networking aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. You can think of it as peering into another users’ filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network.For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at Del.icio.us and learn about this popular bookmarking tool.

Discovery Exercises:
  1. Visit and take a look around Del.icio.us
  2. Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags they used to categorize this reference?
  3. See if you can find any resources in del.icio.us that are tagged with tassietoolbox
  4. Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool. Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere? How can RTOs take advantage of social bookmarking sites?
  5. OPTIONAL: If you’re up to the challenge, create a Del.icio.us account for yourself and discover how this useful bookmarking tool can replace your traditional browser bookmark list. You might even want to explore Del.icio.us’ latest addition, a network badge. (Psst! see it on the left at the bottom of the navigation sidebar.)
Note: If you do setup a Del.icio.us account, here’s a quick word about the Del.icio.us Buttons. On PCs that have the toolbars locked down, these will install as options in your browser bookmarks. Use the “Post to my Del.icio.us” link to add the current webpage to your account (you may need to log in). Use the “My Del.icio.us” link to view your online account.

Discovery Resources:


CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

  1. IDEA #1: Search De.licio.us to find links for student assignments.
  2. IDEA #2: Create your own De.licio.us bookmarks for various subjects/resources to use with student assignments.
  3. IDEA #3: Tag sites with your subject numbers. See http://delicious.com/tag/ICAB4135A for an example.

[Note: Please remember to include WEEK# and THING# in your heading posts.]

3 comments:

oniea said...

Hi peter

This is great and I was hoping I could adapt it for my class tomorrow? Please let me know if ok
cheers
leonie

Unknown said...

Yes, all the material here is released under a creative commons license and you're more than welcome to use it. Have a great lesson, bbb

oniea said...

We used it and it worked well so thank you. We also had a look at Flickr (it was a long session), took some photos and uploaded them. One thing we did notice is that you have to upload at least 5 photos on Flickr before they will be published and it takes "some days" before searchable.