Applying Social Networking to Bookmarks

Bookmarking is a tool I cannot imagine living without. The amount of information on the web is so large and growing so quickly that returning to some sites becomes difficult and time consuming if we do not keep track of past navigations. Bookmarking has saved me time and time again when it comes to my classroom lesson plans as well as my own general interest surfing.

Starting some real research in a grad program has caused me to renew a practice I started a couple years ago but had forgotten about, that is online bookmarking. I was introduced to the practice when I first started using iGoogle as a home page. I love the freedom Google gave through their Web 2.0 products such as Google docs and calendar. But I have to say the research of this blog has changed expanded my uses to include social bookmarking. In an article on Pandia Search Engine News (http://www.pandia.com/sew/327-social-bookmarking.html) the author critiques numerous social bookmarking sites including the iGoogle version. I have to agree with the author after having been exposed to other online tools the Google version pales in comparison.

Being able to store websites in an online bookmarking format created freedom for my work to become more mobile. I could access those sites from school, home or at a local wi-fi café. But the social parts expand the power of my work to include the combined efforts of my colleagues. Tony Hammond, Timo Hannay, Ben Lund, and Joanna Scott in an article called Social Bookmarking Tools (I) http://dlib.org/dlib/april05/hammond/04hammond.html discuss the value of the social bookmarking over traditional search engines. Since these social bookmarking tools allow you to link your URL lists to those of like-minded people the tool then becomes a better search engine. The authors point out it is an issue of “global space” vs. “local/my space”. You get to narrow your search based on peer parameters. This can save time and produce a better result.

How is the “smarter search” accomplished? through the use of tags! Just like in other Web 2.0 tools there is the ability to self-label online entities. These tags create the opportunity to search and are part of what Andreas Hotho, Robert Jaschke, Christoph Schmitz, and Gerd Stumme in their article BibSonomy: A Social Bookmark and Publication Sharing System (http://bit.ly/IhRc4 ) call folksonomy. Folksonomy is well described in this New York Times article from 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/magazine/11ideas1-21.html . The power of multiple people to compile a list of sources that have a common theme is changing the way research is done. It is a powerful way to both disseminate information as well as glean needed information.

I am very excited about the use of social bookmarking tools. I am sure they will be an aid to my teaching and research. There are a couple downsides to the tools. In the article 7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking (http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutSocia/156804 ) the author points out that there are a couple of issues to consider. First of all since it is open to anyone social bookmarking could create a validity issue in one’s research. But as with all research source validity has to be evaluated on an individual basis. Secondly the possibility of biasness since a particular community creates the tags their preferences should be accounted for. Again this is the case when considering any source. These two concerns are a starting point of a whole new conversation that I don’t have time or space to complete in this article but would like to pursue in the future. I hope to spend some time writing about the responsibility of educators to help students not just use these new tools but to do so in a responsible manner.