About ITC
Newsletter: Fall 2007
Del.icio.us: Declutter and Share Your Links!
by Susannah Finley and Jake SumnerDon’t let the oddly spaced dots stand in your way. Or the pronunciation. (Yes, it sounds just like “delicious,” and typing in “http://delicious.com” works just as well.) Brave the linguistic peril, because this wildly popular (and free) social bookmarking site creates an online home for all of your saved links – meaning you can add favorite URLs from any browser or computer to one online list (and you won’t lose the list when you switch to a new computer).
Storing your links is only the beginning. Del.icio.us is an example of a “folksonomy” – a library of information categorized by its own users. When you save a link, you’ll “tag” it with a series of keywords and a description. Those tags can then be sorted by frequency, alphabetic order, and keyword. All of your tags are displayed on the side of every page, giving you one-click access to every topic you’ve encountered.
The main benefits of the site – storing, ordering, and sharing relevant information – apply directly to education. Of course, you can begin by organizing your online research, but you can also create assignments. Students can collect online resources individually, then post them in Blackboard for class discussion. The class can also build a repository together or create resources for future semesters. You might even have students submit a del.icio.us list as part of a bibliography or ePortfolio.
A word of caution: del.icio.us links have been sorted and tagged by, well, almost anyone in the world. So you’ll still need to search carefully for appropriate resources.
LibraryThing: An Academic’s Dream
Add your books, title by title, to an online database of millions of books. Find people who love the books you love and join their groups. For an academic, this is peer collaboration at its best.
Blackboard Scholar: Organize Your Course Links
Blackboard Scholar allows users to browse and to bookmark collections of resources. All resources are tagged by discipline and user description, and you can also see how many other users have added a particular resource to their personal collection. Links to Blackboard Scholar content may be made directly from within Online@UT course sites. Please visit the Scholar Web site (http://scholar.com) for more information.
Resources
Del.icio.us
LibraryThing
Blackboard Scholar
7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking