Post #3B: How Social Bookmarking Saved My Sanity (or Share and Share alike!)

OK,  I admit it...

Social bookmarking saved my sanity. 

Yep.

No lie. 

Seriously.

Scout's honour.

Social bookmarking superhero, Diigo (V5), has all the bells and whistles you could ask for to help organize, manage and connect your resources and those of others. 

Video courtesy of diigobuzz.

How Diigo Recently Saved my Sanity...

You are reading the third (yes third!) version of this post, but thanks to Diigo, my superhero (blush), I have not gone totally bonkers while completing the assignment. While the story is somewhat unbelievable--after accidentally deleting a previous nearly-complete version of this blog last Friday, and suffering through a crashed netbook (a relatively brand new one at that--Bill Gates, if you weren't such a nice guy giving all that money and free advice to public education...) and having to write them all using four different machines from seven distinct locations--Diigo, once again, demonstrated its true value: I was able to retrieve all the information from the websites that had just previously bookmarked (a little bit of solace, but not much!).

The One About the Teacher with Four Stations (or how to drive oneself bonkers)...

If you use the Internet for anything, this story always, for me, justifies the necessity for utilizing Diigo, Delicious, Evernote or any other type of social bookmarking tool. One word: convenience. Over a year ago, a colleague complained that she was having difficulty retrieving all the data she saved to her "My Favourites" tab in her web browser of choice. It seemed that no matter what computer she used--her office computer, her desktop in her classroom, her netbook or even her home station--none of her bookmarks "were saving". (I point this out not to poke fun, but to recognize the fact that even the beginner envision the future of working "in the cloud" and that the act of retrieving information is no longer desktop dependent. After explaining web versus computer based bookmarking she looked at me, without a hint of frustration or anger, and said, "This Diigo makes perfect sense. Why don't more people know about this?" Good question. Indeed, the time has come for educators to move past the desktop.

The Evolution of Diigo (and me)...

Image courtesy of Diigo.com

Like Diigo's applicable evolution, my r/evolution of its use has increased exponentially over the past couple of years. Admittedly, I rarely used it for personal research and bookmarking, purely professional use, but as one explores the various groups and the Diigo community as a whole, one really develops a sense of the power of connection (for more on Diigo's contribution to connectivism see my associated post on social bookmarking). With hundreds and hundreds of groups made up of hundreds and hundreds of individuals everything from sharing the best free digital tools, to information on specific technologies like Smart products and iPads, to the hundreds of thousand of webpages on the subject of educational research and technologies, I dare you not to become connected with like-minded (and not so) individuals and educational professionals.

The ability to connect with individuals and groups in order to develop one's own personal learning "ecology" (again please refer to my previous post "Let's Get Connectivistic") makes social bookmarking an indispensable digital tool (Siemens, 2005). Again, this stretches the definition of what a personal learning network really is; Diigo is one component of a rich, organic, ever-changing dynamic for lifelong learning "ecology".

A fun thing happened on my way...

As a Diigo user you are privy to viewing and commenting on the sticky notes and annotations left on webpages created by other Diigo community members. Interestingly enough, I came across twenty-three webpages (lecture papers, blogs, commentaries, etc.) that were "marked up" by fellow Diigo users. And while many of the 'sticky notes' were personal reflections based on the content they were reading, many others left links to similar or opposing arguments on their annotations. What an amazing way to interconnect on another whole new level of metadata that only a few years earlier would not have been possible! Truly powerful.

Even my Grandmother can Diig-o this!

Taking advantage of Diigo's ability to create and annotate sticky notes on webpages, and bookmarking images is just the beginning. Creating RSS feeds to my blogs and library website are features that have allowed me to share my resources with teachers and students on a regular basis. Several of my teaching colleagues now expect their students to contribute to building class libraries of supporting resources for novel studies (English), units of study (social studies), and experiments (science) as part of both their active participation and personalized learning. If you really want to bookmark like a fiend, try adding the Diigolet extension or the Diigo toolbar to make bookmarking and notation quite simply a no-brainer! One click and you can bookmark the site that you are working on during an electrical storm (While never a good idea, Diigo's got your back!) while never having to navigate or open a new window.

The Cloud is Where its Happenin' (come on and join us!)

Image courtesy of Pew Internet, 2010

This is little doubt that technology theorists, educational specialists, and teachers on the ground level all concur that the future of the 'application' will be based in "cloud computing"--if only for its simple ease of convenience and money-saving rationales. Social bookmarking will continue to skyrocket among teachers as it is recognized as a truly effective (and free for the time being) Web 2.0 tool. My next goal involving social bookmarking is a desire to see it brought into the classroom, and support my colleagues to help their classes develop their own collection of class/subject-specific resources. I have planned a lunchtime workshop for teachers for later this month. Fingers crossed.

And with new apps available like Safari on the iPad and the offline reader for the iPhone it may be time to seriously consider purchasing a wireless Apple technology device.

iPhone?

Hello.

Diigo, the Family Dog

Recently, my wife joined Diigo and now relishes the ability to create groups for her fitness leadership, cooking, and interior design interests. Personally, I have yet to really utilize Diigo for personal organization and management. I do, however, recognize the potential for social bookmarking in this respect. We have even created a list of favourite kids sites for our little guys, accessible anywhere, anytime that we travel!

Why Buy the Cow...?

With its release was just in time for the new academic year, Diigo Freemium, offers a couple of new features text view and the ability to upload cached pages through the Diigolet application.

But, hey, feel free to drop by visit my Diigo library and let's connect!

References

Anderson, J. & Rainie, L. (2010). The Future of Cloud Computing. Retrieved October 8, 2010 from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/The-future-of-cloud-computing.aspx

Siemens, G. (2005). Retrieved October 5, 2010 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm