Sunday, October 14, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Social Bookmarking
I have been asking around, and I haven't found anyone at school using social bookmarks. Actually, when I ask my students, I have not found that they are using bookmarks at all. If they use a site, they cut and paste or print it (and that is without print preview to avoid unnecessary pages).
I would like to introduce social bookmarking to our faculty. First, there are web bookmarking services, such as Google Bookmarks, that allow web users to store bookmarks on the web, rather than on their computer or network. This does allow freedom to access one's bookmarks from anywhere. Social bookmarking sites add to the service by allowing users to organize, share, and search bookmarks. These bookmarks may be marked private but really work and become public when they are marked public. One may tag, or label, sites with one's own method of identification. I will discuss tagging is detail at a later date, but tagging allowis users to organize and search bookmarks without using the "folder" approach. What also makes social bookmarking work is that programs, such as del.icio.us will then show how many others have bookmarked that particular site. One can then view and link to other people's bookmarks. Another feature is that users can rate and add comments to their bookmarks. One advantage and possible disadvantage is that human beings are classifying and rating sites rather than leaving it up to the internet "spider" programs of the search engines. I can see great possibilities of students using social bookmarks. Imagine working on a project on Queen Hatshepsut of Ancient Egypt. Doing a normal web search and bookmarking worthwhile sites, but then seeing who else bookmarked the same site or sites. You can then see what other sites on Egypt or Hatshepsut they have bookmarked and recommended. They are essentially becoming collaborators on your project.
This is just another feature of how older Internet features are evolving into Web 2.0. I will say using social bookmarks may seem awkward at first, but there may be uses for you.
I would like to introduce social bookmarking to our faculty. First, there are web bookmarking services, such as Google Bookmarks, that allow web users to store bookmarks on the web, rather than on their computer or network. This does allow freedom to access one's bookmarks from anywhere. Social bookmarking sites add to the service by allowing users to organize, share, and search bookmarks. These bookmarks may be marked private but really work and become public when they are marked public. One may tag, or label, sites with one's own method of identification. I will discuss tagging is detail at a later date, but tagging allowis users to organize and search bookmarks without using the "folder" approach. What also makes social bookmarking work is that programs, such as del.icio.us will then show how many others have bookmarked that particular site. One can then view and link to other people's bookmarks. Another feature is that users can rate and add comments to their bookmarks. One advantage and possible disadvantage is that human beings are classifying and rating sites rather than leaving it up to the internet "spider" programs of the search engines. I can see great possibilities of students using social bookmarks. Imagine working on a project on Queen Hatshepsut of Ancient Egypt. Doing a normal web search and bookmarking worthwhile sites, but then seeing who else bookmarked the same site or sites. You can then see what other sites on Egypt or Hatshepsut they have bookmarked and recommended. They are essentially becoming collaborators on your project.
This is just another feature of how older Internet features are evolving into Web 2.0. I will say using social bookmarks may seem awkward at first, but there may be uses for you.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Thinking about your browser
When working with my students, one of the first things I want them to do is become familiar with their browser. Being a very early user of Netscape and old-school HTML editing, I have watched browsers evolve into not only a powerful reading and research tool, but a personal friend as well. There has long been a debate of the use of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla with each new version trumping the other. Either one works well, but it is best to pick one and learn the ins and outs of that program. Right now, I have been using Mozilla's Firefox, the 2.0.0.7 version, and I am learning more about it each week.
First, there is the concept of tabbed browsing. From Mozilla and a nice writeup on Rash-log on the Benefits of Firefox , tabbed browsing opens links in the same window but with a different tab. For researching purposes this is very helpful. One can switch back and forth between pages without losing the path of research. Very nice!
First, there is the concept of tabbed browsing. From Mozilla and a nice writeup on Rash-log on the Benefits of Firefox , tabbed browsing opens links in the same window but with a different tab. For researching purposes this is very helpful. One can switch back and forth between pages without losing the path of research. Very nice!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
