Lesson 9: Social Bookmarking with Del.icio.us
It has become a popular thing to do because it helps people organize the many websites they visit. It also allows you to keep up with the things your friends or family are interested in.
What are Tags?
Tags are one-word descriptors you assign to your bookmarked pages to help you organize and remember them. Tags are like keywords, but you choose them, not the website creator.
You can assign as many tags to a bookmarked website as you would like. This is incredibly useful when a webpage you want to bookmark doesn't fit into just one category or folder; for example; a website about apprenticeships might fall under "school" but it would also fit in "job searching." Tagging allows you to categorize the page in different ways so it appears in both lists.
Tagging with Del.icio.us
Del.icio.us is a popular social bookmarking manager that allows you to bookmark a webpage and add your own tags to categorize all of your saved pages.
It is important to note that you are not actually saving the webpage itself, but the website address. Each time you use Del.icio.us to visit your tagged websites, they will be the most current version. If the website creator has added new content or updated the page, you will see these changes each time you visit.
Many people find the social networking aspect of Del.icio.us quite useful, as you can see how other users tag similar links and discover new websites on their lists that might be of interest to you. You can think of this as peering into another person's filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool, each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive social network.
Activity: Create a Del.icio.us Account and Start Tagging
Visit http://www.delicious.com/. The most recent bookmarks are displayed on the homepage. You can also search for bookmarks on specific topics using the search bar at the top of the page. Take a few minutes to browse through the most recent bookmarks.
Click Join Now at the top right of the page to create your own account. You will need to create a Yahoo! email account to sign up for Delicious. Once you have registered and verified your account, start searching for interesting websites to tag!
- Choose a topic related to your goals at the Adult Learning Centre and enter this into the Del.icio.us search bar. For example, you might search, "math" or "grammar."
- Review the search results and choose at least three different webpages to tag.
- Once you have tagged your bookmarks, create a blog post about the experience. Think about the following questions as you create your blog post: Can you see the potential for this tool for your personal learning plan? How would you use it? What type of information did you search for and why? How many results did you get in your search?
Congratulations! You have learned how to tag your favorite content and save bookmarks to Del.icio.us. Send us an email at adult.learning@gmail.com to let us know you have completed Activity 9 so we can check out your blog post. You are ready to move on to Activity 10. Click on the form at the bottom of the page to fill it out and be able to enter the monthly draw.
