Hi guys!
Today in class we talked about social bookmarking, and more specifically, a site called del.icio.us which allows you to keep all of your bookmarks in one place. All you have to do is sign up with the website, and then use the simple ‘bookmarker’, which you can install on your taskbar, to bookmark any interesting sites you come across to your del.icio.us account. When bookmarking a site you add simple ‘tag’ words to the site, such as ‘art’, or ‘photography’, so that it will be easier for you and others to find the site using these ’tag’ words later on.
Before I signed up for del.icio.us, I went on to the website and did a general browse for photography, and was amazed by all the cool websites that were there.
Afterwards, I searched for the same topic on Google, and I definitely noticed a big difference when searching ‘photography’ on Google versus del.icio.us. The search results that came back on Google were very broad-most being sites that had the definition of photography or sites about photography. The sites on del.icio.us were way more streamlined, focusing on applications (lots which are free!) that allow you to upload and edit photos. I’ve already found a few websites which I’m interested in using, and can’t begin to imagine all the new websites I’ll discover using this tool.
After registering for del.icio.us I had some fun browsing for new websites, and saving pages to the site. It seems really simple to use, and I really like the fact that you can ‘follow’ other members’ bookmarks if they seem to have the same interests as you, or if they always seem to find really cool sites.
I also saved the website Shelfari, and added the tag RRC_Library2.0 to it so my fellow classmates can find me.
I guess it’s too soon for me to say if I would really use this site instead of my boring old favourites tab. It seems to keep your bookmarks a lot more organized, but it could also be a big distraction for me when I’m finding new and interesting websites all the time!
After using a social bookmarking site such as del.icio.us, I’m kind of curious if any libraries use this tool. It would be interesting if a library used this to provide different useful websites to library patrons, such as children’s or young adult websites, educational websites, and anything library-related really. I guess the only issue would be making this resource known to library patrons, but I still think it would be a really helpful tool.
That’s it for now folks! Have a good one!
