This week, we'll take a look at the popular social bookmarking site Del.icio.us (typed in as http://del.icio.us).
How does it work? You keep your list of bookmarks on the Del.icio.us site and organize them into categories with tags. Many users find the real power of Del.icio.us is in the social networking aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at Del.icio.us and learn about this popular bookmarking tool.
Discovery Resources:
· Us.ef.ul: A beginners guide to Del.icio.us
· Several Habits of wildly successful Del.icio.us users
Check out a few examples of Library Del.icio.us pages:
MIT Libraries Virtual Reference Del.icio.us site and their Tag Cloud
San Mateo Public Library Del.icio.us site with links organized in Dewey Decimal
Discovery Exercise:
1. Take a look around Del.icio.us using the UCSCLearning2 account that was created for this exercise. Note: In this account you will find lots of resources that have been highlighted or used throughout the course of the Learning 2.0 program. You can keep up to date with what's added by subscribing to the RSS feed.
2. Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags they used to categorize this reference?
3. Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool. Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere? How can libraries take advantage of social bookmarking sites?
OPTIONAL: If you’re up to the challenge, create a Del.icio.us account for yourself and discover how this useful bookmarking tool can replace your traditional browser bookmark list.
