Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Week 8: Social Bookmarking and Library 2.0


Listen to audio here

Social bookmarking

Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures & posts).
Unlike library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (i.e.Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data anyway they want.

In the past few weeks, we’ve already explored a few sites – Flickr and LibraryThing to name two --that allow users to take advantage of tagging.


This week we want to also take a look at a popular social bookmarking site called Del.icio.us (keyed in as http://del.icio.us/)

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page and add tags to categorize your bookmarks.

Many users find that the real power of Del.icio.us is in the social network aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you.

You can think of it as peering into another users’ filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at Del.icio.us and learn about this popular bookmarking tool.

Discovery Resources:


Discovery Exercise:

  1. Create an account (I know, not another one!) and take a look around Del.icio.us

  2. Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorize this reference?
Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool.

Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance, or is it just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?

Read about the Library 2.0 movement

What is Library 2.0?

The concept of Library 2.0 stems from the Business 2.0 and the Web 2.0 movements. This includes online services like the use of OPAC systems and an increased flow of information from the user back to the library. The Library 2.0 movement is really about innovation, people and community building. According to Wikipedia the vision of the Library 2.0 movement is accomplished through trust and by encouraging users to share ideas through writing, rating and commenting about everything in the library’s collection. Proponents of the the Library 2.0 concept expect that ultimately the Library 2.0 model for service will replace traditional, one-directional service offerings that have characterized libraries for centuries.

General Principles of Library 2.0

It is difficult to identify the exact parameters of Library 2.0 since it is in a perpetual beta state. However, there seems to be a general consensus around the following principles:

  • Librarians are allowed to create resources for their users quickly and easily
  • Library Services are frequently evaluated and updated to meet the needs of users
  • Library collections are made available via open, personalized interactive services that encourage content creation, editing, commenting, bookmarking, rating, tagging etc. by users
  • Two way flow of information from the library to the user and from the user to the library
  • Libraries embrace radical trust
  • Libraries give users some measure of control
  • Librarians are knowledgeable about and utilize information tools favoured by users

Resources

Your Task!

Read through a few of the opinions on the Library 2.0 movement that we provide, or search for blogs about Library 2.0 then write an entry in your blog on something you have learnt about the Library 2.0 movement.

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