Thing #13

I have used Delicious for awhile, but not as completely as I can now that I have a much better understanding of tagging and how it works. I was introduced to Delicious last summer and got an account and saved a few things to it thinking it could take the place of My Favorites in my web browser. But I didn't keep up with it because I didn't learn all that I could do with it, especially with the use of tags. I loved learning that I could add the Delicious button to my tool bar to easily save a website to my account while browsing. I think the tag button will be helpful too. I noticed when I add a website to my account that it suggests tags to use, either recommended or most popular. I found this very helpful because sometimes I would be unsure of what tag would be the best one to use to describe a site.

Delicious and social bookmarking have good potenial to be helpful for research. If you search Delicious for bookmarks based on potential tags, that could greatly cut down on the amount of time spent searching the greater web for sites. I know of a school librarian who has made a Delicious account in the name of her library that allows students and teachers to add bookmarks. I can see how this would be helpful for finding sites that students think are relevant to their topics of research and allow them to help each other with research. The whole point of social bookmarking seems to be to share some of the treasures available on the web and create a community of people with common interests. It is also a time saver! It lets everyone share in the work of others. These are both things that students can benefit from and relate to information literacy.