Now Where Did That Thing Go?
Quite often I find myself looking for websites or blogs that I enjoyed and thought I had “saved” somewhere, but struggle to actually find them again. Apparently this is also something many others have struggled with throughout time because now we have social bookmarking services. Social bookmarking is a service where users are able to not only bookmark sites they want to save for later, but also tag them and share them with other users who may be looking for the same thing (Richardson, 2010). Sharing your Favorites tab with the world – not a bad idea.
Two of the basic social bookmarking services are Delicious and Diigo. I spent some time this week checking out Delicious. Here are some highlights of things I noticed:
1. Login using your existing social media account.
To help streamline all of your social resources, you can login using your social media account and it will automatically link you with friends or followers who have done the same.
2. Bookmarking made simple!
After logging in to your account, you add a button to your browser that allows for immediate bookmarking while you are searching the Internet. When you go back to your Delicious account everything will be there waiting for you!
3. Follow what others are bookmarking.
I did say this was a SOCIAL bookmarking site. Not only do you get to save your own bookmarks that can be accessed from any device, you also get to follow what other people are bookmarking and gain ideas from them. By creating a network, more brains are better than one!
4. Organize by tags or keywords.
When booking marking a site, you can tag it using any keyword you want and sort your library using those keywords later. (Great for research or professional development!)
Think of it this way, if you have student trying to research a particular topic, they could go to Google and search for sites that meet their needs, or they could go to one of the social bookmarking services and search keywords or tags. This would allow them to narrow their search to sites that others have already deemed to be useful or worth going back to. It might also be handy to find a user who is an expert in the area they are researching and follow the sites they are bookmarking. Possibilities are endless!
Another positive for social bookmarking is the network you are able to establish and build. My team for example is currently in the process of implementing Genius Hour in our classrooms. If all of my teammates also get Delicious accounts, we can easily find and share resources that will guide us in this adventure. During my first few days I have already found several sites such as the Engage Their Minds blog that is full of resources that I look forward to sharing in our next team meeting.
After all, it is becoming a world where it is more important to have the skills to find the information you need, than to know it on your own (Richardson, 2010).
References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oak, California: Corwin.
Quite often I find myself looking for websites or blogs that I enjoyed and thought I had “saved” somewhere, but struggle to actually find them again. Apparently this is also something many others have struggled with throughout time because now we have social bookmarking services. Social bookmarking is a service where users are able to not only bookmark sites they want to save for later, but also tag them and share them with other users who may be looking for the same thing (Richardson, 2010). Sharing your Favorites tab with the world – not a bad idea.
Two of the basic social bookmarking services are Delicious and Diigo. I spent some time this week checking out Delicious. Here are some highlights of things I noticed:
1. Login using your existing social media account.
To help streamline all of your social resources, you can login using your social media account and it will automatically link you with friends or followers who have done the same.
2. Bookmarking made simple!
After logging in to your account, you add a button to your browser that allows for immediate bookmarking while you are searching the Internet. When you go back to your Delicious account everything will be there waiting for you!
3. Follow what others are bookmarking.
I did say this was a SOCIAL bookmarking site. Not only do you get to save your own bookmarks that can be accessed from any device, you also get to follow what other people are bookmarking and gain ideas from them. By creating a network, more brains are better than one!
4. Organize by tags or keywords.
When booking marking a site, you can tag it using any keyword you want and sort your library using those keywords later. (Great for research or professional development!)
Think of it this way, if you have student trying to research a particular topic, they could go to Google and search for sites that meet their needs, or they could go to one of the social bookmarking services and search keywords or tags. This would allow them to narrow their search to sites that others have already deemed to be useful or worth going back to. It might also be handy to find a user who is an expert in the area they are researching and follow the sites they are bookmarking. Possibilities are endless!
Another positive for social bookmarking is the network you are able to establish and build. My team for example is currently in the process of implementing Genius Hour in our classrooms. If all of my teammates also get Delicious accounts, we can easily find and share resources that will guide us in this adventure. During my first few days I have already found several sites such as the Engage Their Minds blog that is full of resources that I look forward to sharing in our next team meeting.
After all, it is becoming a world where it is more important to have the skills to find the information you need, than to know it on your own (Richardson, 2010).
References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oak, California: Corwin.