Why should I use diigo or similar bookmarking tools?

Bookmarking and efiling is essential in this ‘age of information’. I use diigo to file favourite sites using tags for easy retrieval. Before delicious and diigo, I added my most commonly used websites to favourites, but those favourites could only be retrieved from that computer. Now I use diigo because:-

1. I can bookmark interesting sites for easy, quick retrieval
2. Keeps me organised. As I am attending the ISTE conference at San Diego for the first time I am feeling overwhelmed about attending a conference that has 22,000 attendees and a multitude of presenters, so as I see interesting recommended sites and links, I am bookmarking them to diigo with an ‘iste’ tag. These include the conference program, the ning, social activities, interesting blog posts with tips on getting the best out of ISTE,  things to do in San Diego, transport sites etc. To retrieve all these, I simply search for ISTE in my tags and the list comes up.
3. Availalbe 24/7 and anywhere that I may be. My bookmarks and curated sites are saved in the clouds, so I just need internet access to find the bookmarks
4. Special interest groups can be formed in diigo – eg educators, global education conference,  digital citizenship etc. Many other people with similar interests,  are discovering some great sites related to  topics of interest to me and I can tap into their collective knowledge/research. Students in the Flat Classroom projects use diigo to share discoveries with their global groups.
5. Notes, highlights etc can be made on bookmarked sites.
6. Coolcatteacher (Vicki Davis) and other educators use diigo to post to their blogs. See eLearning and Global Competencies

There are many more ways to use diigo and a quick online search will bring up more. How do you curate or bookmark sites? What tools do you use?

What happens when Delicious turns sour?

A special Tech Talk Tuesday session discussed the unknown future of delicious. Several tools were shared and thanks to @scottduncan and @mrpbps (John Pearce) for sharing their delicious accounts and diigo accounts. Here is the link to the recording.

Alternative bookmarking sites that participants currently used

• Portaportal
• Symbaloo
• Trunkly
• Zotero
• Connotea
• Amplify for sharing
• Posterous for fast sharing of sites

People wanted to discuss:-

• What is social bookmarking?
• What can we do with our delicious accounts now?
• Would like to see examples and make comparisons
• Does anyone know how to export to diigo?
• What is the difference between an educators’ account and a normal one?
• How can we keep diverse?
• Discuss the diigo let
• Does google have a bookmarking tool?

Here are some intersting links and a video:-

1. delicious wont be shut down says Yahoo
2. transition of delicious to diigo frequently asked questions
3. Migrating from delicious to diigo!
4. Mac and IPhone-friendly Alternatives to Delicious from @teachtechie

Using posterous in the classroom and lesson plans using posterous

Tech Talk Tuesday Special:- If it’s not delicious, do we diigo our bookmarks?

Tech Talk Tuesday Special: Tuesday 21st December 3:45 -4:45pm. Melbourne, Australia  gmt+10

Topic: If it’s not delicious, do we diigo our bookmarks?

The twittersphere has been active with tweets regarding the news that the future of delicious (a popular online social bookmarking tool) is in jeopardy or about to change its platform. Delicious was one of my top 10 web2.0 tools and has been user friendly and popular with many. Most people are now exporting their bookmarks to diigo. This session will be a general discussion on what action can or should be taken, is diigo the best alternative, how do people export their bookmarks, what are the benefits of diigo and other alternatives etc.

It is hoped that some experienced users of both tools will join in this general sharing session. Come whether you are new or experienced.

Here is the link to the session

Right from the beginning it was delicious!

Over three years ago, I started to experiment with web2.0 tools. The first tool was blogging but the second one was delicious! This opened my eyes to the wonderful world of web2.0! Here is what I could do!:-

1. Save favourites online rather than in my browser
2. Access bookmarks from any computer with the internet, anywhere around the world.
3. Look at other people’s favourite websites.
4. Create a personal learning network.
5. Find many bookmarked sites for topics I was interested in eg podcasts etc
6. Find other people who were interested in the same topics.
7. Found delicious to be user friendly, useful and great tool to show others the power, benefits of and need for web2.0. It was often used at conferences and staff PD to encourage the use of web2.0.
8. Share my online discoveries with others
9. The ability to tag and find resources quickly

Delicious featured in my top 10 web2.0 tools for the first two years and was featured in conference presentations that were made. My students were encouraged to commence their own delicicious accounts, especially those in the senior years of school.

It was with sadness that yesterday my tweet feed revealed that Yahoo was considering shutting down delicious (see also post by pcmag). Yahoo has since responded on the future of delicious.  Although I also have a diigo account, delicious has always seemed easier and more user friendly.

Here are 10 alternative sites to delicious from searchengineland. I am also intrigued with diigo and the fact that you can create web slides with bookmarked sites. See Michael Ghulin’s post on how to create the webslides and Slide Thinkfinity into the Curriculum with Diigo Slides

Announcements today are saying not to panic and that yahoo is looking for an alternative platform for delicious, so I will do little now, except

1.  read up more on the alternatives eg exporting bookmarks ,   Export, Import and Migrate Your Delicious Bookmarks and then ensuring that I move my delicious bookmarks into diigo.
2.  download a firefox applet that will save bookmarks to both delicious and diigo

Here are some sites to explore on the use of diigo (Thanks to John Pearce)

1. Examples of student learning with diigo
2. Bookmarking using diigo in the classroom and this youtube video
3. Getting started notes for diigo by John Pearce

More alternatives

1. xmarks - needs downloaded sync
2.  googlebookmark
3. pinboard - has a small annual cost