The image with this blog shows just three of about 20 documents I have saved with various links to sites that I use in my classes. I may just have to start using the delicious account I set up a couple of years ago.
The most immediate usefulness that a social bookmarking site like “del.icio.us” offers is a virtual, endless list of hot links related to any subject imaginable. Someone else has already done the work for you. The advantage is that someone has already discovered and marked them for you (Brisco, 2009).
For students, teachers can guide them through a series of acceptable websites that are already available instead of typing in long strings of characters. Students are choosing from a list of acceptable sites created by the teacher on which to base their searches for information. (wiki)
However, one phenomenon I haven’t figured out is the tagging feature. The way users use word tags to identify types of bookmarks may or may not be useful. Grosseck identifies four ways tags are used:
selfish style: tagging for personal benefit
friendly type: tag for people we know, friends, family, large groups
altruist type: general tags so others can use for a resource; involves generosity
popular style: in order to get more views; these have no benefit, are artificial and are also known as spagging (spam +tagging)
While tagging is a personal approach to using bookmarks, it seems like a more uniform way ought to be taught in order to create more uniformity so that searches are more meaningful. My main thought is should there be a system for tagging and might you teach that?
In my own experience for first signing up for delicious a couple of years ago, I thought it would help me find more journalism resources on the web. Since there weren’t too many on there then, I am excited to try to use the site again and see how it has grown and what my own additional contributions might be.
Brisco, S. (2009). A 2.0 TOOLKIT. School Library Journal, 55(8), 61-62. http://search.ebscohost.com
Grosseck, G. (2008, March). The role of Del.icio.us in education: creating significant learning experiences. Paper presented at 5th International Conference on Informatics, Educational Technology and New Media in Education, Sombor, Serbia. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/2413801/The-Role-of-Delicious-in-Education
Social Bookmarking: Link to classroom 2.0 social network discussions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2009, from CR2.0: http://wiki.classroom20.com/social+bookmarking
Fantastic post as per our iChat:)!
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