A Del.icio.us Techno Rant

I <3 del.icio.us!

Really, I do.

I heard about it a long time ago, and was like "what a lot of effort, to redo bookmarking all my links, to have a tag cloud blah blah blah"

Boy was I wrong.

I started getting more active in it when I started adding links to school and class related sites. The advantage to having access to all of my bookmarks at any computer was great. It is just super super convenient. Once you add links you can search them multiple ways, like the tag cloud or by specific tags.

Tags are important, these are like descriptors you add to a site link that are relevant to that site for you. For instance, I linked the Rutgers site with tags like: school, class, education, information.

I like the tag cloud, it is very aesthetically pleasing to me, but I am not sure how functional it can be. It provides users with at a glance information such as which tags are the most popular and the extent to which many or few words are tagged.

I like that you can search your tags. For instance you can search for education, and all the links to tagged with the word education pop up, then you can add another tag and search just that group of links for school as well. In other words, you can search for multiple tags at a time, and also choose to exclude certain tags as well.




I joined so that I could 'claim' my blog as part of this exercise. I searched for my blog as soon as I entered the registration information, and it had been added to the mix almost immediately. Then I explored the site.

While I'm not yet an avid blogger, I can see how Technorati is useful for searching blogs for information. While I chose not to add the 'add this blog to you favorites' link/button, many do and with a click you can track any blog you find interesting from any blogging service through Technorati.

And it's not just blogs that Technorati tracks for people. Also, pictures, videos, posts, and tags. Blogs are suggested in the form of popular lists, suggested content, and related content.



As far as Library 2.0 goes, I agree that "Library 2.0 is more than just a term used to describe concepts that merely revolve around the use of technology; it also a term that can be used to describe both physical and mindset changes that are occurring within libraries to make our spaces and services more user-centric and inviting" - from the learning 2.0 site
And that while this has always been a part of the services libraries provide, I feel that Library 2.0 is more about being able to accept changes, to learn and grow with their community, to know the needs of their patrons and be able to help them.
A lot of this has focused on technology, but I can see where being sure to communicate with the library community in terms of employees and users, (also employees as users) and how their needs change, the library must change with it or be forgotten and left behind :(

"Everything passes. Everything changes. Just do what you think you should do."
- Bob Dylan