Thing 11: Out of Order

Emboldened by my colleague Owen's example (he is doing the 23 Things in seemingly random order), I embarked on Things 11 and 12 this week instead of the planned Things 4, 5, and 6. Since I use several different computers and am always looking for bookmarks on one computer that actually exist on the computer three miles away, I have been wanting something like del.icio.us for some time—even though I still find those extra periods a little daunting. And the whole concept of "social bookmarking" intrigues me.

So here are my answers to the prompts for Thing 11:

• Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere? The accessibility is what appeals to me. Using other people's bookmark "tags" for research assistance might come in handy down the line, but I would see this more as a way to make non-life-changing decisions than as a source of serious information gathering. And, so far, it's a lot harder for me to find my bookmarks in the online del.icio.us site than it is for me to get them from my browser toolbar. In the time it takes me track down the del.icio.us version, I tend to forget what I was looking for.
  


• How can your library or media center take advantage of tagging and del.icio.us? Look at the sites in the Resource list to see how libraries are using Del.icio.us. I like the way the San Mateo Library is using del.icio.us as a Library of Congress classification-number sidebar. I could see doing something like that as a way to help the university professors I work with find specific resources in their area.