23 Things Project: Thing 8 Del.icio.us Tagging

Tagging used to mean spray paint and "creative" expression of the illegal sort, but nowadays it means categorizing information. I spent some time checking out the del.icio.us site to see what the deal was with tagging sites. At first, I didn't like the look of the interface, but I got used to it. It was easy to view other people creative tagging of sites. It reminds me of my daughter's hash tags in Twitter. Some people make odd connections to information. I did like the use of comments when you save and tag a site though. People have interesting ideas about how to use information presented on different sites. It seems that in today's technological society tagging is now a multiple meaning word with lots of interchangeable terms. Tag, label, hash tag...what else is out there?

I can see how del.icio.us could be used as part of the research process. It would be much easier to organize sites for students to explore on their own than allow them to venture out on the web without assistance. It would require more up front planning on a teacher or librarian's part, but it would pay off in the end with better Internet-based information used for research projects.

I do like the ability to view your saved bookmarks on any computer as well. It would have come in handy when we bought our new computer. It also would save time if you needed to access sites from home or from work as well. There has been many instances when I needed a site address that I had saved and of course was always away from the computer I saved it on...if I could even remember which of the many techie devices I used in the first place.

Tag on 'til next time,
Debra