Social Bookmarking: What’s That and Why Should I Care?

Blog Entry #3

At one time the only tags that I had ever heard of were graffiti tags and likewise, the only bookmarks were ones that I put in my books to mark a page so that I could return to it and pick up reading where I left off. It’s interesting how these words “tags” and “bookmarks” have made their way into internet lingo but it’s also understandable. When I ponder the meaning of graffiti tags, I am amazed at how similar these are to the keywords or “tags” that we use to assist in identifying information for future reference. “Graffiti tags, simply put, is the way that people who know anything about graffiti, can tell one piece of graffiti from another.” (Graffiti-Letters.com, 2008) The whole social bookmarking scene recognizes the value of tags and we use them so that we can identify and locate someone else’s work of note.

With the burgeoning of Web 2.0 information and applications, it is necessary to use some means of social bookmarking to record information and sites that I may wish to return to at a later stage. Until last year, I had always bookmarked websites using my browser or by adding the url to my “Favorites”. I had bookmarks and favourites on four different computers but when I needed them, I couldn’t access them necessarily if I hadn’t saved the site on the particular computer I was attempting to use at the time. Frustrating? You bet! When I would attempt to show a student or teacher some nugget, it was embarrassing and frustrating to admit that I had the information saved but I’d have to get back to them. By the time I was able to locate that information, the moment had passed and the information was no longer required. As a result, it was with great excitement that I read about something called a social bookmarking site called del.icio.us. I eagerly and easily set up my account and began saving sites from my previous “favourites” and bookmarking lists and more importantly, the information is at my fingertips when needed.

Del.icio.us has been the most popular Web-based tool and actually “coined the term ‘social bookmarking...Introducing tagging to the mix, which enabled the sharing of links and of globally aggregated results based on tag phrases.” (Hargadon, 2007) The social part of the term comes into play as “entries that are tagged the same way” are connected to all of the people “who posted those links in the first place.” (Richardson 2009) Instantaneously, people who think alike and have the same interests are connected through one keyword or tag. If I enter “education” as a tag for a website, theoretically, I could be connected to thousands of other teachers and be able to see their bookmarks on education as well. As a result of Del.icio.us the art of reading, learning and interacting has become collaborative as people of the same interest connect, converse, and create meaning. As Richardson says, “Back in the old days, we used to rely on librarians..to sort and categorize information for us...we now have the resources to organize vast libraries of information on our own...” This is exactly what makes social bookmarking into “folksonomy”. As we each associate and assign keywords to numerous topics and websites, new tagging systems emerge. By seeing how others tag resources, we are able to learn how they also tag their entries and are able to search using far more keywords than initially possible, thus tapping into far more information and sometimes, too much information. What are the benefits of Del.icio.us? It is a free, easy to operate site that assists in keeping us organized particularly when researching, whether out of personal or educational interest. It offers an easy to use and honest set of “Help” files. I was going to upload the tag cloud to my blog, but when I found the directions, I was advised “Don't do this unless you are a geek.” Since I’m not a geek yet, I will leave that alone for now for fear that my blog will disintegrate. I think I will obtain assistance for this from one of our techno wizards at school. Another observation that I have made about this social bookmarking site is that it isn’t very social. It is difficult to make contact with others so this may make it less viable as an educational tool that enhances the social, empathic side of curriculum.

Diigo is another free social bookmarking site that is also relatively easy to set up. Please have a look at the previous post for a tour of Diigo. Once I had registered, I selected the green button on the right side of the page to download the Diigo toolbar and began using the site after I had received my verification email from the company. I like the fact that when I locate a site and click on Bookmark, instantly a box appears with the critical information such as url , Title, ad Brief Description with a place for Tags at the bottom. Although Diigo is similar to Del.icio.us, it also allows me to highlight part of the text that may be of significance later and save that along with the other information. Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful WEb Tools for Classrooms provides detailed instruction about the various features of Diigo. Although this site requires a little more engagement, it offers more features that would be useful in the classroom. By opening an account and adding each student to the group, teachers and librarians can leave feedback for individuals, and through an RSS feed connect to any other site with the same tags as those being used. For students writing term papers or completing inquiry based learning, Diigo allows sticky notes to be attached with information that could be used in the final project. I know that this application will be extremely useful for students and teachers who are engaged in inquiry projects, and I will continue using this so that I am able to pass along this information and the application’s usefulness.


Larry Ferlazzo outlines a number of social bookmarking sites applicable to English Language Arts and ESL learners such as 2Collab, Web2Wave, Only2Clicks and Wallwisher to name but a few text and visual based bookmarking sites. “Wallwisher appears to me to be one of the most useful Web 2.0 sites I’ve found in awhile. It can be a great place for students to use higher-order thinking by creating categories of images (and descriptions) or short texts they copy and paste (or write themselves).” (Ferlazzo, 2009) Furl is also another site that provides a broader scope for adding comments, and notes while collecting bookmarks. (Harris, 2009) I will need to try these applications at some point and consider the various curriculum expectations as I do so and so that I may share my insights and have professional discussions with staff.

What do social bookmarks have to offer students? Rather than viewing a static webpage, students can now communicate their ideas critically about the webpage and its contents while appealing to many different interests. One of the major benefits of social bookmarking for students is that “they learn the importance of social intelligence.” (Lamb, Johnson, 2007) Howard Gardner “identified the interpersonal intelligence as one of the multiple intelligences.” (Gardner, 1983) and it has been added to Bloom’s taxonomy and “includes skills in seeking/giving information, proposing, building and supporting, disagreeing, and summarizing.” (Lamb, Johnson, 2007) Social interaction and bookmarking provides “students with an opportunity to practice their interpersonal skills through cooperative learning” within a safe setting. (Lamb, Johnson, 2007) Social networks that develop as a result of social bookmarking can increase self-esteem and provide creative outlets for the student. It can promote confidence in storytelling and dialogue creation, and develop problem-solving skills and strategies. (Huffaker, 2009) If educational institutions, hence teachers and librarians are charged with preparing students to meet the challenges and skills beyond the school walls, then social bookmarking and networking is an essential set of technology and skills that need to be trained for.

What impact does social bookmarking have for teachers and librarians? Lamb and Johnson share a list of ways that teachers, librarians, and parents can guide students in the effective use of social networks and social network sites:
1. Know the Networks—educate yourself about safe conduct, privacy policies. Set up an intranet for school-based projects.
2. Be Proactive—talk to youth about their needs and help them to meet those needs within a safe environment.
3. Discuss Identity, Profiles, and Personal Information—teach the use of safe identification on the Web ie. don’t use full names, locations, phone numbers, social security numbers, photographs identifying others, using nicknames that draw unwanted attention
4. Stress Caution—educate about marketing, scrutinize information carefully, restrict friends, victimization of others, what to do if you are victimized
5. Discussion Misinformation and Misunderstandings—fact check, think before you write, be aware of who will be reading postings, be aware of consequences of actions
6. Address Peer Pressure—carefully select friends, what do you know about them, who can you contact should someone encourage you to do something that you’re not comfortable with
7. Help Students Manage Time—help students to recognize that multitasking really means “continuous partial attention”
8. Revisit Acceptable Use Policies—update these and post them on intranet
9. Promote Online Safety—use school newsletter, website, parent nights to share information
10. Application to Information Inquiry—help students, teachers and parents to understand implications both inside and outside the school setting
What sorts of projects can facilitate learning through the use of social bookmarking applications? An environment of interaction, responsible risk taking, and collaboration can have wonderful outcomes advocate Lamb and Johnson through projects such as the following:
• Small meaningful assignments that generate curiosity and sharing
• Design interactive, community based collaborative projects
• Provide formal and informal social tools to promote in and out of class discussion
• Invite new member through jigsaws with another class, or community expert
• Provide social tools and let the students lead
• Celebrate successes

A significant passage that drew my attention in one of the readings says, “...the role of librarians has shifted from hunting for scarce resource to selecting the best among the bunch.” (Harris, 2009) There certainly is an overabundance of social bookmarking applications available to students, teachers, and librarians. It is our responsibility to select an application that ensures student safety, provides for student needs within the spectrum of curriculum and inquiry based learning while celebrating successes along the way. All of this will take much further thought and examination in order to best serve teaching and learning in the 21st Century.

References

Ferlazzo, H The Best Social Bookmarking Applications for English Language Learners and Other Students. Retrieved July 15,2009 from Larry Ferlazzo's Website of the DAy Web site: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/04/16/the-best-social-bookmarking-applications-for-english-language-learners-other-students/

graffiti tags BY GRAFFITI-LETTERS.COM (2008) http://www.graffiti-letters.com/graffiti-tags.html

Hargadon, S (2007, 12). Best of Social Bookmarking. School Library Journal, Vol 53, Iss. 12, 20

Harris, C. (2009, 02). What's Next for Social Bookmarking?. School Library Journal, Vol.55, Iss.2

Huffaker, D. (2009, 06, 01). Storytelling in New Media. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from First Monday Web site: http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2484/2199
Lamb, A and Johnson, L (2007, 10). Social Technology and Social Networks. School Library Media Activities Monthly, Vol. 23, Retrieved 07, 15, 2009, from http://proquest.umi.com.login.exproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqweb?index=9&sid=3&srch...

Richardson, W (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful WEb Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Walling, S (2009, 07, 01). Google Apps Go Social With Improved Contacts and New Appi. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from Read Write Web Web site: http://citationmachine.net/index2.php?reqstyleid=2&reqsrcid=39&mode=form&more=&source_title=Web%20Page&source_mod=&stylename=APA