Social Bookmarking

9/18/2013

Social Bookmarking

I have been a member of social networking since 2005 when I started back to college and found Facebook was how students communicated to each other. I am definitely of the 1 billion online users, since that day, my husband would say I am addicted to social media (Richardson, 2010, pg.89). I am a member of most social media sites, so I can understand it being overwhelming of where to go for what and where to put items out when. I have moved to a mind shift of using these tools in my classroom. Along with Edmodo, I have a class Twitter page which I use for class updates or retweeting technology ideas with my peers or following humanitarian organizations such as Girls Up.

However, social bookmarking is somewhat new to me. I have used a tool called Symbaloo. I have found this site to be useful to store my bookmarks of websites. Symbaloo is a better organization tool and easier to use than standard bookmarks. Within the site, I have different pages based upon a topic and it is set up as my home page and I have it as an app on my phone. I can access my bookmarks everywhere. I have even created webquest page using Symbaloo. The reason I like this tool is the format. Symbaloo is laid out like an iPhone, the bookmarks look like apps on a phone. I really prefer this visual.

When I looked through Diigo and Delicious, I found the sites to just look like any other web site. I do like the usefulness of these tools in research. When tagging a topic or making a list in these sites it makes research easier for someone to find material they need or to be continually updated with new information. Joining these sites’ communities allows user to share ideas on topics with others. This new idea of “folksonomy” (collaborating on-line) allows more information to be shared (Robinson, pg. 91). We are no longer limited to the materials in a library or what has been catalogued in a media center site. While these two tools are great for research with the abilities to annotate, highlight, store and collaborate, I believe I like to receive and share information in a different format. As far as a news aggregator I love the shortest of Twitter where I can get a short bit of information and dig deeper if I want to know more or a more visual layout with an application such as Flipbook.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.

4 Comments

Amber Genzink link

9/21/2013 07:52:46 am

Hi Christa,
I am also a fan of Symbaloo’s visual layout. I would argue that its included icon images and color coding are more friendly than the typical folder or list bookmarking system found on other bookmarking sites, such as Diigo. In addition, Symbaloo is definitely more accessible for children. I know Kindergarten teachers that have organized their computer homepages using Symbaloo, and their pre-reading students can easily access sites based on memory of pictures and colors. I think the key is determining which social bookmarking sites best fit your specific needs.

I found the idea of “folksonomy” very powerful (Richardson, pg. 91). Our ability to tag and organize information in new ways that improve its accessibility for others makes the research process more efficient and could lead to quicker progress in our field and the fields of others. It’s amazing just how much information on the web is categorized by users today. The collaborative nature of the web’s organization is one of Web 2.0’s greatest strengths, and so many of our common methods of communicating, sharing, and collaborating have changed because of it. The question I wonder now is: “Where will this collaboration take us, and how will the research process change in the next 20 years because of it?”

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California, Corwin.

Laura Gary-Michel link

9/22/2013 06:54:32 am

Well now I have to look at Symbaloo!! I have heard of it several times (I think once from you in an online chat). But now my interest is really piqued. I use Livebinder and only2clicks for bookmarking for student projects. I love the look of both of those sites and they are very easy to use. They do have their limitations though. I haven't figured out a way to hit tag in my browser and have the site automatically added to a page in my only2clicks and that's something I really like in Delicious. The adding bookmarks is relatively easy in Delicious, its the tagging that I have a problem with. I'm a media specialist and organization (and categories I've grown accustom to) is fuzzy to me. Is Symbaloo a social bookmarking site? Can you view other people's Symbaloo page and add their bookmarks to your page? What about the tag button in the browser? Oh my, I have so many questions. I better just go look. Thanks so much for the suggestion. Oh two more questions, how do use Symbaloo with your students? Can they make their own page?

christa heath

9/23/2013 09:48:03 am

You can share your Symbaloo various ways you can post to Twitter and Facebook, make them public or share with certain group of people. There is a tag feature really however I do have various Symbaloo for various topics, such as tech tools, social studies, webquest and I have even created one for my school peers with our commonly used web sites. And for those in my summer course a Symbaloo with everyone's webquest

Christa Evans Heath

9/23/2013 11:05:59 am

I just noticed Symbaloo now allows the webmix to be part of a RSS feed.

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