Exploring Technorati was a good thing to do. Good to know about the services and what it is capable. However, I restrained myself from signing up for yet another password and tagging my blog. Why? Well, at week 6 in this adventure I find that I have plenty of new toys to get used to using, thinking about and incorporating into my lifestyle. I'm not sure if I will continue my blog after this class is over or whether I will change to a different medium. Does this blog need to be found or is it really only relevant for those of us on this 9 week adventure? Will any of us continue these blogs? Develop other blogs? Continue to read these blogs? These are things I'm thinking about before I tag. Still, it's good to know about the capabilities should I want to tag in the future.
Tagging is in interesting concept - one which has really amazing potential to make things clearer, easier and more transparent and also has the power to confuse, hypnotise and trick us into thinking we are better at finding information than we really are. In del.icio.us I felt it gave me more power to make my favorites useful and saved me time in the doing. In technorati I felt I got a great number of useless hits. Trying both sites makes one think about whether all this self-centered tagging really lulls people into thinking that they are finding good information, true information and useful hits. Does this transfer to research and make us lazy and undisciplined? I can't believe I even asked the question. So the thing I am pondering is where can we draw the line between time saving, self determination and creativity and reliability, truth and fact. Interesting things to ponder in an election year on a night when it is snowing on and off.
So I feel as though I'm running all over the internet trying to tag pieces of information and make them my own...at least on loan. Tag! You're IT!
2 comments:
I was just thinking this morning that I'm starting to confuse Rollyo with del.icio.us and who knows what else. I still think that Rollyo is a better way of limiting sites for student research on a particular topic.
I feel like I'd like to spend time with some of these new "toys" before adding more and confusing myself. I think that after this class, I wouldn't continue this blog but probably start another one with a totally different purpose - for my students or parents or teachers to let them know what is going on in the library. It seems simpler to me at this point than continuing with my library website. I think we'll probably each decide what it is we'll be keeping for future use. In the meantime, I do enjoy knowing what's going on out there in the Web 2.0 world.
So I am not the only one who is starting to confuse some of these toys. The best way I have been able to keep them organized is to print up information on sheets of paper and keep them in a file folder. yes, it is rather low tech, but it is working for me. And I agree with you - I am not sure just how many of these I will incorporate into my library program.
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