Week 6: Tagging, Folksonomies & Technorati

#13
I use Del.icio.us more than any other web 2.0 tool (my page is linked on the sidebar of this blog). It is an excellent resource for organizing web sites and for having your web sites accessible from anywhere. when I was searching for work, I created a library_jobs tag that allowed me to organize my zillion employment sites; it was a lifesaver.

Libraries can utilize this feature in many useful ways - they can organize their web links with Del.icio.us and link to their page from the library web site; a del.icio.us page can be readily available on reference desk computers so that librarians can quickly access frequently used web sites; library instructors can gather together useful information literacy sites and give students access to their delicious page. Or what about using delicious for subject guides!

I really am happy to discover the SJlibrary del.icio.us page: http://del.icio.us/SJLibraryLearning2

#14
Technorati
Searching keyword then in Tags then in Blog directory whittled down the results each time. I see this site as very valuable in marketing your blog; if that's something you want to do. Tagging can be a very valuable tool--it's a lot like controlled vocabulary only it isn't at all controlled. Therein lies the problem. The lack of control results in a less clean index and more difficult searching for users. However I do like the idea of writers tagging their own work with the terms they believe to be most relevant. I have a delicious tag called "mindlessfun"-- it's my idea of mindless but fun things to look at and is a completely personal tag.

#15
Thoughts on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries.
Well, everything in moderation, right?I believe in the idea of changing direction, but paddling upstream just because everyone else is too? That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I particularly like this idea: "This librarian recognizes how services might be enhanced by the Read/Write web and how new services might be born in a climate of collaboration." We need to be open, to be creative, and to think as developers think. We need to change in a way that our users want us to change.

Collective Intelligence is an attractive notion too. By involving users, perhaps they will feel more connected to the library.