BP6_2009112_The_Practice_of_Social_Bookmarking

The practice of social bookmarking is new for many of us as I know I had not heard about it until this assignment. As much as I like to make list and bookmark, as a means to keep up with links and make them readily accessible, this is a blessing! I was not sure what to think with a name like 'Delicious' what one might find. As I continue to do the lessons and explore, I am finding that there are thousands of sites out there just waiting to be discovered and possibly send my mind into overload!

I must say that I struggled with this particular assignment for several reasons. The first being something that sounds so silly but was very relevant in my world and how I learn-the name. Everything has a meaning or an association and as we continue along this path of virtually endless discovery of web-based information, we come across very interesting and useful sites with colorful names. Well, this one I just did not get. What does Delicious stand for? Well, since I am one that loves bookmaking to save great sites for later, I figured I should love this new method or application of sorts. Well, when I started researching for articles for my Action Research Project and came across many a great article and found that lots had the delicious logo option for bookmaking right on their homepage, I was impressed and sold on the idea.

Through my research I have found numerous ways in which social bookmarking can be of use for educators and learners alike. First of all, it is a great way for both to organize their search by being able to send their favorites all to the same place to be noted and with the same system and ease (since a lot of the information has Delicious as an option for bookmarking). It also allows for a person to tag information a certain way that is consistent with their style for consistency and for classifying of sorts things that are similar. In addition to that, it allows the learner and educator to share from any computer, files and favorites with each other and the rest of the digital world. This is perhaps the biggest and best assets this application has to offer. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is for someone like me who has bookmarked some great information and yet cannot access it from any location other than the computer you originally used. This is limiting and most frustrating part about the regular way of bookmarking.

There were several sites that touched on the benefits of social bookmarking and I will give a brief overview below:

In the article, “What is Social Bookmarking and How Can It Help Me?” It reintegrated that the benefits are that you can save your favorite websites and send them to your friends in addition to being able to compare with as many others as you would like to see what is interesting, most popular, and best suited for what you are looking for. It also gives you a means to connect and dialog with people that have like interests to expand your learning community. IT is also a very powerful search engine. It has a lot of good information to check out for more detail that.

Another great resource I found using the social bookmarking search was “Serve 2.0 Resources Wiki”. This site was the most organized seemingly overwhelming site I have ever liked! There is so much to choose from on the front page, however it is all very orderly and has purpose and function. Things are organized b type, function, resource, & project with a side bar that helps you maneuvers through all the pages along with recent activity for quick reference. I like it because the site was created to share ideas specifically on how to utilize and thus share social media (Web 2.0), to encourage student service and civic engagement on college campuses. It is a Wiki site itself and I of course want to use it for middle school. They take contributions and I am sure that I will both, find suitable material for my middle schoolers on this site as well as be able to make suggestions to get the material that is already there adapted to meet the needs of my students. This looks like fun to play around and get to know. I already have identified (I feel so informed!) several items on the Type list, like Blogs, Facebook, Google Docs, Group Email Lists, Ning, Photo Sharing, Podcasts, RSS, Second Life, SlideShare, Social Bookmarking, YouTube, Twitter, and sooo many more! There is a purpose for all that we are being exposed to in this journey. How it will all shape up differently for each of us will be interesting to see. Until then, a-blogging I will go!

The third piece of supporting info was actually an article on “Taking the Social Networking Plunge”. The article was very interesting in that is talks about how during the sluggish times of the job market how important it is to be up on all the tools that will help with personal and professional networking. Several suggestions for networking were tossed out there, however LInkedIn was on the top of the list, right there with good old-fashioned networking. It stated how the sites allow you to showcase your experience and achievements to more than just the immediate group you are around or encounter. Twillter was another one that was talked about as a great distribution tool. This can be a great way to give almost real time updates about what is going on with you as well as making you then the learner able share and retrieve info much faster which can be very helpful in this competitive market for jobs and such and help one develop strategic partnerships worldwide.

Nations.D, About.com Social Bookmarking 101 - What is Social Bookmarking and How Can It Help Me? Retrieved Nov.7.http://webtrends.about.com/od/socialbookmarking101/p/aboutsocialtags.htm

Hackett.B.Serve 2.0 Resources Wiki.The Serve 2.0 InLearn & Serve America: Higher Education

program of the Corporation for National & Community Service. Retrieved Nov7,09.

http://serve.pbworks.com/

ALBOHER.M. Taking the Social Networking Plunge. Retrieved Nov7.09. October 13, 2008,

http://shiftingcareers.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/taking-the-social-networking-plunge/