Blog Post - Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking, as defined in dictionary.com, is simply "a method for storing and managing bookmarks of Web pages with individually chosen keywords; also, the sharing of this data." However, what makes this more then just the sharing of ones bookmarked links to websites is the added ability to place a tag on items. These tags allow for the searching of like materials by keywords as long as the user has attached appropriate and relevant tags to the source. The use of quility tagging replaces the old way of using folders for your bookmarks. You nolonger have worry about listing an artical about Lincoln under the Civil War and Presidents or even U.S. History, and then deal with trying to remember where it was stored; just tag the artical with each of the keywords and you will be able to locate it regardless which you choose and from any computer that can hit the interet. This concept of sharing information via social bookmarking has some wonderful posibilities within education.

An educator using valid and appropriate tags may provide direct links to the learner via social bookmarking. This method of providing information ensures the learner gets valid and reliable data for the project they are working on. Also, for team teaching, educators can share their information not just between departments but across the school district, state or across the globe since these bookmarks are saved on a server instead of a local hard drive.

For the learner, social bookmarking has the potential of eliminating the process of weeding through material to find the information you are really looking for. As stated in the artical 7 Things You Should Know About... Social Networking, Social bookmarking simplifies the distribution of reference lists, bibliographies, papers, and other resources among peers or students. Create the right group of people to have in your network and share all that you have found.

There are, however, a few draw backs to social bookmarking. The most prevelant at this time is the increase of spam. Due to the key component of this system relying on acurate tagging, you have no idea what material you might get when a user is just trying to promote their website and puts all sorts of inacurate tags/keywords to lure traffic. However, Will Richardson believes that you can "get much more relevant stuff by subscribing to the person as opposed to the tag."


References (which at this point I can not seem to get to format correctly in this):

Educause Learning Initiative. (2005). 7 things you should know about social bookmarking. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf

Sheth, K. (2005, August 5). Tags vs. trusted sources. Retrieved October 11, 2009, Message posted to
http://weblogg-ed.com/2005/tags-vs-trusted-sources/#comments

Social bookmarking. (n.d.) In Dictionary.com. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from
http://dictionary.reference.com/