Del.icio.us - Social Bookmarking
I am currently working on my sixth of seven activities to explore for our 23 Things assignment. And I must admit that this one was probably the hardest for me to wrap my mind around so far. I decided to pick Del.icio.us , a social bookmarking site, for my sixth activity. I was trying to find a way to describe what social bookmarking is and not feeling like I was getting very far. I finally found what I thought was a good explanation from the book "Web 2.0 for Librarians and Information Professionals" written by Ellyssa Kroski.
Kroski states "social bookmarking Web sites focus on managing and sharing information. As users arrange, sort, and share their data in these social settings, they collectively create a repository of user-recommended resources and potentially likeminded people to be explored by the populace. These discovery networks emphasize browsing rather than searching in hopes that people will stumble upon serendipitous resources in the course of their journeys.
Social bookmarking applications such as del.icio.us and Furl allow members to bookmark Web sites, articles, blog posts, podcasts, images, and other Web-based materials for future retrieval in an online space. Since these "favorites" are not stored locally, they become accessible from any online computer instead of being limited to the user's desktop."
I had been a bit underwhelmed about the use of social bookmarking, until I got to that last part of Kroski's explanation of social bookmarking. The idea of having the equivalent of a "Favorites" folder I could access from any computer is very appealing.
The first time I ever visited a del.icio.us site was following the link through the Weekly Readings posting our professor put on our class Blackboard. That had been my only experience with del.icio.us before this activity.
Now it was time for me to set up my very own del.icio.us account. I found the set up to be very easy and user friendly. I added several bookmarks with tags and explored some of the other features, such as searching tags and browsing through the sites I had bookmarked already. Personally, the main feature that I find useful is the one I referenced above, having your favorite websites bookmarked for easy browsing from any computer.
Libraries can use del.icio.us in many ways. It can be used for: establishing subject guides; providing community and library resources; bookmarking resources geared towards specific user groups (such as teens, children, seniors, etc.); and to provide resources to library staff. Librarians can use del.icio.us to: organize their own personal research; keep up with new Web 2.0 technology developments; and save conference or meeting related materials.
One thing I did note about del.icio.us is that although it is currently owned by Yahoo, it appears they are looking to sell it. According at an article dated March 18, 2011, on IT World, Yahoo is assuring users their bookmarks will be maintained through any transition. The article also includes a link to download your del.icio.us bookmarks if you are concerned your bookmarks may be lost. You can visit the article at: http://www.itworld.com/internet/140647/yahoo-sell-delicious-soon-reports-say?source=itw_rss.
Kroski states "social bookmarking Web sites focus on managing and sharing information. As users arrange, sort, and share their data in these social settings, they collectively create a repository of user-recommended resources and potentially likeminded people to be explored by the populace. These discovery networks emphasize browsing rather than searching in hopes that people will stumble upon serendipitous resources in the course of their journeys.
Social bookmarking applications such as del.icio.us and Furl allow members to bookmark Web sites, articles, blog posts, podcasts, images, and other Web-based materials for future retrieval in an online space. Since these "favorites" are not stored locally, they become accessible from any online computer instead of being limited to the user's desktop."
I had been a bit underwhelmed about the use of social bookmarking, until I got to that last part of Kroski's explanation of social bookmarking. The idea of having the equivalent of a "Favorites" folder I could access from any computer is very appealing.
The first time I ever visited a del.icio.us site was following the link through the Weekly Readings posting our professor put on our class Blackboard. That had been my only experience with del.icio.us before this activity.
Now it was time for me to set up my very own del.icio.us account. I found the set up to be very easy and user friendly. I added several bookmarks with tags and explored some of the other features, such as searching tags and browsing through the sites I had bookmarked already. Personally, the main feature that I find useful is the one I referenced above, having your favorite websites bookmarked for easy browsing from any computer.
Libraries can use del.icio.us in many ways. It can be used for: establishing subject guides; providing community and library resources; bookmarking resources geared towards specific user groups (such as teens, children, seniors, etc.); and to provide resources to library staff. Librarians can use del.icio.us to: organize their own personal research; keep up with new Web 2.0 technology developments; and save conference or meeting related materials.
One thing I did note about del.icio.us is that although it is currently owned by Yahoo, it appears they are looking to sell it. According at an article dated March 18, 2011, on IT World, Yahoo is assuring users their bookmarks will be maintained through any transition. The article also includes a link to download your del.icio.us bookmarks if you are concerned your bookmarks may be lost. You can visit the article at: http://www.itworld.com/internet/140647/yahoo-sell-delicious-soon-reports-say?source=itw_rss.
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