Thing 14 Delicious

User name:
lingarrt

I started using delicious last year and find it very useful. I particularly like the number of saves indicator for each link. One thing I find very annoying is the same link appearing multiple times in a tag list. Why is this? I also like to see the additional tags employed which gives additional search options. In libraryland we call this "pearl gathering." Delicious is a good tool to teach this skill to students. We talk about brainstorming keywords, but without a visual, it's not necessarily effective. It's also much more comprehensive than the additional search terms that appear on the bottom of google search pages.

While trying to print the directions for uploading my existing bookmarks into delicious, I found the site blocked. I thought that odd considering the source until a friend pointed out it was the word "delicious" that flagged the page. Blocked sites are so annoying!

Students experience this when they are doing legitimate research, as well. However, this gives me the opportunity to direct them to databases or the hotlists I have created and posted on my websites. The hotlists are assignment specific, annotated, student-friendly links which will allow students access to links including "hot" topics that would be blocked when googled.

We are not allowed to post links to blogs or wikis, nor can I see how giving students access to my bookmarks will be particularly useful. My delicious bookmarks with the same tag would include additional sites that are useful to me or a teacher, but not necessarily be useful to a student.

I encourage teachers to request my expertise in collecting good links and posting them rather than teaching them to do it themselves. I need to be needed! The only downside to the hotlists is the rule they be updated every twelve months. I know this and try to keep on top of it, to avoid the pages being removed. Just recently for the second time, I lost about a third of my lists and I'm in the process of recreating them. Grrr!