The big shock I had over the Christmas holiday was hearing the news that the social bookmarking website "Delicious" was being closed down by Yahoo. Delicious has always been in my top 10 favourite online tools because it allows me to store my favourite websites in a portable way that I can take from computer to computer. I also use it as a basic ePortfolio in which I display citations about my work.
Reflecting on my use of Delicious, it has dawned on me that I do not use it in a social way...I do not use it to share with others and I rarely check out other people's collections. I have tried to use it as a research resource for students but have had similar experiences to educators such as Anne-Marie and found that students have not engaged with it at all. It looks like my experience is not out of the ordinary - Alan Cann has also talked about Delicious being a storage tool only. So is social bookmarking all it's cracked up to be?
I think social bookmarking is vital and is going on all the time...we're just using different tools. Twitter and Facebook are the tools I use to share the resources I think people would find useful.
As for Delicious, it appears to still be up and running. Yahoo is currently talking about selling it as opposed to shutting it down. In the meantime I am taking Alan's advice and trying out other tools for storing my bookmarks just in case Delicious does suddenly disappear. At the moment I am looking at Google Bookmarks but am interested to hear about other tools as I am keen not to place all my eggs in the Google basket.
8 comments:
Hi Sarah
I too use Delicious for portability rather than as a social bookmarking site. Like you I don't share my bookmarks or look much at those of others. Also like you I share links in other ways.
I have simply exported all my Delicious bookmarks to Diigo for the moment, while that might not be my final solution at least it has ensured I have them backed up in case Yahoo pulls the plug very suddenly!
I feel that for me I don't need bookmarking to be social and my primary need is portability because I need to be able to access from lots of different computers. I am already a bit nervous about the no of eggs I have in my own Google basket! So will probably not use Google Bookmarks as my final solution.
Jo Hart
Sarah, like you and Jo I also use Delicious but not in any social way. It's been on my list for a while to figure out how to use it socially I just haven't gotten around to it. Now that its future is up in the air it doesn't seem to be the time to figure the social part out.
Interestingly enough, I started using Diigo a little while ago and with it I do take advantage of the social part. Somehow it just seems to work more naturally with Diigo.
I hope that Delicious does stick around as I find their bookmarking tools easier and more convenient to use on a variety of browsers and platforms; it works great on my iPod touch and I can't say the same for Diigo.
It is possible and easy to create an rss feed of your friend's and hero's delicious bookmarking. I use this method -- and google's rss reader app -- to see what one of my best friends is finding interesting, and what he is working on. Since he is in a related field of work, we both help each other find good things w/o always having to email each other every link, or fb, or twitter it. And all he hobbies are mine as well, like philosophy, eastern/alt religion. Try it out before yahoo pulls the plug....beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
Hi Sarah - I have used Diigo for some time now and like it. I haven't used delicious much at all so cannot compare. I like the portability and social networking attributes of Diigo, and also the ability to have discussions in there (not that I have much. I also enjoy the ease at which I can start new interest groups and share bookmarks. I always introduce my students to it and encourage them to participate. to date - they accept the invite and join, but then don't participate - this is the same with my professional haematology nurses' organisation.
Sarah, I've also signed up to www.diigo.com (as it's got a #phdchat group setup by jane davies) - it seems to have more 'social' functions to the bookmarking. I too have just used delicious in an online storiage way!!
@Jo & @Claire Have heard about Diigo...will have a look but not too keen on trying out yet another tool so will sit tight on Delicious for the moment.
@pcleddy Haven't been too worried about following anyone else's book marks up to now, but that might change as I start my EdD this year...could be a good way of working with fellow students.
@Moira Interested to see you have managed to get your students to engage with Diigo...how did you do that? I want to try again this year with my new bunch of midwifery students.
@Ian Thanks for heads on on #phdchat...I want to get into that group once I get going with my EdD
Oh gosh that is bad news. I have lots of bookmarks in Delicious. However I have to say my favourite way of finding websites I have visited before is just to start typing it into the url bar, if I am on the same computer it usually comes up so I rarely use any bookmarks at all. I like being able to add a wee summary in Delicious which reminds me why I liked the site or what was special about it to me.
Don't give up on Delicious just yet...there hasn't been any more news about it that I have heard. What I want to know is...do you know (or anyone else) if you can feed Delicious into BlackBoard?
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