Week 7- Social Bookmarking

Thing 10

1. Check out this great 8 minute video on del.icio.us. Check.

2. Go to del.icio.us and explore what you can do there. Check.

3. Find a popular bookmark and read the tags and sometimes comments people have added. Check.

4. Write a blog post about your del.icio.us experience and how you might want to use it for your research or in your library.

I was really impressed with del.icio.us. I hadn't heard of social bookmarking until the day before we covered social bookmarking in class. I think it is a genius idea. To be able to access all of your book marks on one page is so helpful especially when you are away from your computer. Yes I think it can be used for posting links on your library wiki or blog but I also think it will be very useful for librarians to keep up on what is happening in the library world. Just by browsing on del.icio.us I was able to find links to major websites that we have been discussing in class such as world cat, ALA, library thing, as well as other libraries sites. If we can educate our patrons and students to use it as a resource they will have an easier time finding web resources for projects. All they will have to do is type in a subject and be given a wide range or sources that are tagged with what they are looking for. I think that del.icio.us can be a great resource for people researching everywhere. And once they have found the links that they need they can bookmark them in their own del.icio.us account and use them not only in the library but at home.
Check.

Thing 11

1. Go to Technorati's blog directory and study the different categories.

The categories that are well represented I feel are the "worldly" categories Living which includes, health, family, home, etc. I think there are also a lot of Entertainment, music, TV, etc. I felt that the science category was lacking and I didn't even see a tab for education which I would think should be one of the biggest including libraries, school, universities, etc. Check.

2. Try out the two different search options (blogs versus blog postings) to find blogs and blog postings on a topic of interest. Did you get different results?

I decided on searching about Michigan, (since I will be moving there) I started with Blog searches first and this is what I found after getting different results with each.
Most of the links were to news papers, or sports teams from the state, such as the The Michigan Messenger, and Go blue Michigan Wolverine. But when I searched under the postings I found posts like Why Militias Love Michigan and The Triple Helix Model for Reinvigorating Michigan Economy. There is certainly a difference in what the two different searches bring up. The blogs are mostly dedicated to the state and the posts are about the states economy posted from economist and outside news blogs. I didn't find one post that corresponded with a blog that I found on my search. Check.

3. Write a blog post about your Technorati experience.

First, I didn't know that there were websites that were search engines for blogs. I assumed that there would be but I had never heard of the name of one. So this was a good introduction to blog searching for me. I do like blogs and I am always looking for ones to follow that have information I like to read or teach me something I would like to know. This site seemed easy enough to navigate and I like the dual blog, or post search option. I think it was very helpful and I know that I will probably use this blog search engine on a regular basis now. Check.

Thing 12

1. Read the the article by Christopher Harris in School Library Journal and blog about your thought concerning library 2.0 for school libraries.

The world of librarians sitting at their desks checking in and checking out books all day has come and gone. It seems that everything that we are reading about technology and libraries blow in the winds of change. I agree with Christopher that librarians need to get out of their four walls and get online. We need to make ourselves the indispensable when so many people believe that libraries are a thing of the past. We have so much to offer and teaching kids technology is only one of them. We can help teachers supplement their curriculum and open new ways for discussion. Students can be more wired with good things like blogging about book talks and reading online posts, and libraries will have the opportunity to not only be a school library but to be a world wide library through the web. I think accomplishing these goals of being tech librarians is crucial to our survival as librarians. Check.