#12. Social Bookmarking and Annotation (eg. del.icio.us and Diigo)

del.icio.us is a great way to keep track of Internet sites (bookmarking). Basically it allows you to store all your bookmarks online in a searchable personal archive. Adding a new link can be done with as little as two clicks of the mouse.

As you add the link, you also catalogue it (or TAG it) for future personal reference, and to help others search your archive.  The image above is a ‘Tag Cloud’ – a visual representation of the catalogue of bookmarks bookmarked by a del.icio.us user.

You can then access your bookmarks from ANY computer, since they are stored online. Plus, your bookmarks are accessible by others, which can be a great way to collaborate and share information/research.

del.icio.us should definitely be considered during collaborative student online research.

Student can share articles they  tag, and easily re-find sites that are useful. They can also look to see what others in their class or study group are saving.

No more searching for the scrap of paper with the indecipherable site name scribbled on it.

This is crowdsourcing at its simplest and most useful.

Diigo is a social annotation tool; you can highlight, clip and sticky-note any web page, and then share your findings with others.

With the use of diigo and the automatic export to del.icio.us you gain a great Social Bookmarking + Social Annotation tool – arguably the best way to collect, share and interact with online information from anywhere.

Diigo is a great ‘classroom’ tool – given the ability to sign on whole classes and the ability to not only bookmark and classify information, but to offer collaborative reflection.

It is another tool that requires very little adaption of the standard network in schools, nor does it pose any cybersafety issues, while still allowing teachers to effectively scaffold learning pathways for students working collaboratively.