My Digital Classroom

Listening to the Edtech crew podcast last year, I was trying to figure out what the point was of social bookmarking. Fast forward one year later and I have come to rely on one site in particular- Diigo, for keeping me up-to-date with all the new tools, sites and information available on the web.

So what is social bookmarking?

1. Basically, it means you can have all of your bookmarked/favourite sites kept online. Normally when you bookmark a website, it goes into the bookmarks/favourites folder on that particular computer. If you log in on another computer, you do not have access to any of your bookmarked sites. When you set up an account with Diigo (or Delicious), you can bookmark your favourite sites and that information is kept online. You just have to log in to the site to retrieve your bookmarks.
2. Bookmarks on Diigo & Delicious are organised by tags. Tags allow you to bookmark sites under a number of different categories at the same time. It is like placing the same piece of paper in a number of relevant folders in a filing cabinet.

So why do I use Diigo instead of the more popular Delicious? Simply, it is the ability to join groups. While I do spend a bit of time on the internet, I do not have the time to search for everything. By becoming part of a group, I can benefit from all of the links found by other members of the group by receiving emails periodically. By joining multiple groups, I can share and receive links in a number of different areas. Some of the Diigo groups I belong to include IWB Pedagogy, OZ/NZ Educators, English teachers, Ed Tech Crew. They all provide me with links on a daily or weekly basis.

The video below is another excellent tutorial from the people at Commoncraft and it explains the ins and outs of social bookmarking and how it all works.