Searching for tags rather than blogs or posts really narrowed the results which works for me!
Technorati ranks blogs by looking at which blogs link to other blogs. Liz Dunn, the product manager of the Technorati web site, said that the blogs in the Top 100 belong to crazy people who sit at their computers and post a thousand times a day, then link to each other. She went on to say that opinions of the unwashed masses were more helpful than the published reviews or news reported by professionals who are paid to critique things. These comments make me want to proceed with caution in using blogs to get information. We should certainly continue to teach our students how to evaluate web sites and now blogs when they are gathering information.
The millions of people who blog and whose blogs are tracked by Technorati are obviously on to something. Tantek Celik said that people are connecting directly with people and we are living on levels we have never lived before. I prefer face-to-face contact when connecting with people. Blogs, like email, lack tone and statements can be misunderstood.
My thoughts about the value of tagging:
Joshua Schachter, who launched del.icio.us, says that tagging is something we do for ourselves to help find information. Sites such as del.icio.us and ma.gnolia are good for helping one find the websites that are saved there. Publishers tag content to draw readers in, which is completely different.
I added 25 of my favorite web sites to del.icio.us, but in spite of the tags, it is difficult to find particular sites that I am looking for. The site is very busy and cluttered in its appearance. At this point, I prefer having my favorites filed in folders that I created.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thing #13 Tagging and del.icio.us
I have been using an online bookmarking site for years because it is so convenient to access favorites or bookmarks from any computer anywhere. The ones explored in this lesson, del.icio.us, furl, and ma.gnolia, are an improvement because of the ability to tag and locate sites that others have found or sites that you saved and forgot where you put them! (This is happening to me more and more.)
As time allows I am going to move my saved sites to ma.gnolia. I prefer this site over del.icio.us because of its appearance, ease of creating tags, and the fact that the star rating is built in. I hope my choice doesn't limit me because it seems that del.icio.us is by far the most popular social bookmarking site at this time.
I plan to provide sites for my students on ma.nolia or whichever site they can access at school. In the past I have created Word documents with active links to sites I found on various research topics. I then put the documents in the resource folder for the library which is found on the "share drive". The students have to click on five items to get to the desired document, then open the links. Very time-consuming and not attractive to teenagers who want everything to be immediate. I think they will like going to a social bookmarking site. Another advantage is that they can access this from home. They cannot get to the "share" drive from their homes.
We librarians are always emailing each other with good web sites. It is then up to the individual to save it in some way that she or he can find it again. Sharing through bookmarking sites will be so much more useful and time-saving.
After reading about tags and looking at the various sites, I think I understand where RDA (Resource Description and Access) is headed. As I learn more about RDA, I understand that our cataloging will be moving away from Library of Congress Subject Headings and we will be using more natural language. Hmmmm. Sounds a lot like tags in del.icio.us and the other sites!
As time allows I am going to move my saved sites to ma.gnolia. I prefer this site over del.icio.us because of its appearance, ease of creating tags, and the fact that the star rating is built in. I hope my choice doesn't limit me because it seems that del.icio.us is by far the most popular social bookmarking site at this time.
I plan to provide sites for my students on ma.nolia or whichever site they can access at school. In the past I have created Word documents with active links to sites I found on various research topics. I then put the documents in the resource folder for the library which is found on the "share drive". The students have to click on five items to get to the desired document, then open the links. Very time-consuming and not attractive to teenagers who want everything to be immediate. I think they will like going to a social bookmarking site. Another advantage is that they can access this from home. They cannot get to the "share" drive from their homes.
We librarians are always emailing each other with good web sites. It is then up to the individual to save it in some way that she or he can find it again. Sharing through bookmarking sites will be so much more useful and time-saving.
After reading about tags and looking at the various sites, I think I understand where RDA (Resource Description and Access) is headed. As I learn more about RDA, I understand that our cataloging will be moving away from Library of Congress Subject Headings and we will be using more natural language. Hmmmm. Sounds a lot like tags in del.icio.us and the other sites!
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