This was presented at This is IT!, 2007 at Durham College, Oshawa, Ontario. It covers Info Management 2.0 tools such as social bookmarking and RSS readers.

1. Choose YOUR Way to Share,
Organize, Access
and Discover Web Resources
Presented by: Cynthia Williamson & Jenn Horwath,
Library @ Mohawk
This is IT, 2007

2. Agenda
Intro: What is social software?
Part 1 – Managing your web resources
• Social bookmarking software
• Social citation software
• Social photosharing software
Part 2 – Keeping up with the latest news
• RSS Readers – Bloglines.com

3. What is social software?
broad term encompassing collaborative,
•
interactive web software (web link
sharing, blogs, wikis, IM, Amazon)
web has undergone a change...now it's
•
web 2.0, the read/write web!
what is web 2.0?
•

4. What is Web 2.0?
User creates the content (think YouTube)
•
Web-based platform – no download!
•
(think blogs)
Real-time conversation (think MSN chat)
•
Interactivity (think book ratings in
•
Amazon, comments feature on YouTube)

5. Social software - Implications for
educators
social computing named as one of the top 6 areas
•
of emerging technology for 2006 in the 2006
Horizon Report [EDUCAUSE]:
quot;The promise of social computing has been—and
continues to be—more effective knowledge
generation, knowledge sharing, collaboration,
learning, and collective decision-making. This
promise is now beginning to be realized in the
areas of distributed learning, research, and
campus work settings.”

6. Social Bookmarking/Citation Software
resource sharing social software
•
software that lets you:
•
share - other people on the Internet can see your
bookmarks
organize (tag) - you can create labels and subject
headings for your bookmarks for quick retrieval
access - you can access your bookmarks from
any computer with an Internet connection
(work/home/school)
discover - you can see what other
people have collected

7. What are tags?
Your own personal subject terms
•
No authority – can be whatever you
•
want!
As a result – no consistency –
•
“folksonomy”
In Del.icio.us – put 2 word terms
•
together (e.g. libraryscience)

8. Tagging versus Folders
Like Windows files -
•
Like subject terms –
•
can only file under
can add many at once
one subject area at a
time

9. Tags
tag cloud
“list”

10. Why use social bookmarking?
tagging resources within a community =
•
community-built, trusted collection of
resources
ease of sharing = encourages
•
participation, openness in a group
sharing across communities = greater
•
knowledge of a field of research

11. Del.icio.us: Nuts and bolts…
Step 1 – go to: http://del.icio.us and register
•
Create a login that you don’t mind people seeing!
•

12. Del.icio.us: Nuts and bolts…
The only tricky part…download the buttons –
•
bookmarklets!
http://del.icio.us/help/buttons

13. Saving a site
Step 1 – Click Post
Step 2 – Fill out the form

14. Looking at your collection

15. Sharing your collection
Your own URL is automatically generated!

16. Discovering…

17. Discovering…

18. More!
Send links to other people (add tag->
•
for:name)
Create an RSS feed for any page
•
Create a network to track what other
•
people are saving
Import your IE/Firefox favourites
•
Put your Del.icio.us links on your blog
•

19. Applications in your classroom
collect web resources, tag them and share them
•
with others in your Dept. or on your research
team. [Example1, Example2]
build community in the classroom by encouraging
•
students to add links; give them the username
and password and share the collection in the
classroom; encourage the use of standard tags in
order to build a research collection that everyone
can benefit from
place a link to the collection within your CMS for
•
ease of access

20. Social citation software
similar to social bookmarking: allows you
•
to collect articles, organize (tag) them,
share them and see what other people
are collecting
register (free!) and download
•
bookmarklet for easy saving

21. Social Citation Software –
Compared to Social Bookmarking
community is academic in nature so content is
•
scholarly (mostly books and journals, not web
links)
allows easy saving of bibliographic information
•
from selected sites (e.g. Nature, PubMed,
Amazon, etc.)
can save richer information about an article (can
•
prioritize it, save notes)
works with some reference management software
•
such as EndNote, BibTeX, etc. Can import or
export using these formats
peer-reviewed content is promoted on the sites
•

22. Social citation software: Connotea
from Nature.com
•
create login
•
download button and add to your
•
browser. (See help for details.)

23. Applications in your classroom
collect web resources, tag them and share them
•
with others. [Example]
see what other people with similar interests have
•
collected. [Click quot;posted by x othersquot; or see
quot;related tags.quot;]
build community in the classroom by creating a
•
group for your class. (Everyone's articles will be
shared.)
place a link to the collection within your CMS for
•
ease of access

24. Social citation software:
can view tags as cloud and list of authors of
•
articles you have tagged. [Example]
can create quot;watchlistquot; to keep track of tags, other
•
users' collections or journal T of C's. [Example]
can look at tables of contents of recent issues of
•
journals. [Example]
.: can create or join a group (for e.g. for your
Department or class.)
People in group can share articles and create and
•
share notes about articles. [Example]
can share your reading list with your class. List
•
will update as you add items. [Example]

25. Social photo sharing software
upload photos, organize (tag) them, share them and
•
see what other people are uploading.
useful if you need to share images in a class
•
example: Flickr
> create an account (free) and upload your
images.[Cynthia’s account]
> explore other photos. [Eiffel Tower]
> all about copyright on Flickr
> share your photos with others, e.g. your class
> can create or join a group, e.g. for your
Department or class. [Libraries & Librarians,
Canadian Gardens]
- there are many other photo sharing sites: zoto,
Picasa, Bubbleshare, FilmLoop, Slide, etc.

26. Other info management 2.0
tools
LibraryThing – organize your books
•
Diigo – bookmarks plus highlighting, clipping
•
parts of pages
Furl- saves full text of web pages
•
Simpy – share groups, notes and bookmarks
•
Shadows – like De.licio.us but graphical
•
interface

27. Part 2 ~ Managing your news
RSS: Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site
•
Summary or RDF Site Summary.
A format of web content that makes it easy for
•
you to read many news sources or blogs at once.
Many blogs use RSS feeds to syndicate content.
•
To read all this news you need an RSS Reader
•
(Bloglines).

28. Olden days…

29. Nowadays – with RSS!

30. Relief from Jenn and Cynthia
RSS Explained in 4 minutes
•

31. What to watch for…

32. What to watch for…

34. Tool for the job
RSS Readers
•
Bloglines.com
•
− Go to http://www.bloglines.com
− Create free account

35. Bloglines … Nuts and bolts
Step 1 – Search for feeds

36. Bloglines: Nuts and bolts
Step 2 - Subscribe!
•

37. Bloglines: Nuts and bolts
Step 3 - Put it in a folder

38. Bloglines … Easy as pie!
Voila! You’re done!
•

39. Bloglines … another way
Alternative 2 – Add a
•
feed from your
favourite news site!
Step 1 – click on the
•
orange RSS symbol

40. Bloglines … another way (cont’d)
Step 2 – copy the link (CTRL + C)
•

41. Bloglines … another way (cont’d)
Step 3 – Add it to Bloglines
> Click Add
> Paste the URL (CTRL + V)

42. Bloglines … another way (cont’d)
Step 4 – Put it in a folder!

43. Now What?? Read your feeds
Step 1 – open a folder:
Step 2 – Click on a feed:

44. News galore!

45. Take Away for Today…Top 5
Things You Can Do
Create a group in CiteULike or Connotea for your class to
1.
build a collection
Create a collection of your own sites and add the link to
2.
your CMS
Create a login for you and your colleagues to share
3.
resources for a group project
Create Bloglines account for your class with key online
4.
blogs, journals they should read
Create a Flickr account for your class to share photos
5.

46. Further Reading
Weblogg-ed: the read/write web in the
•
classroom (a blog)
What is Web 2.0 (an article from
•
O'Reilly)
What is Web 2.0: Ideas, technologies
•
and implications for education (JISC)
7 Things You Need to Know About Social
•
Bookmarking (EDUCAUSE)

47. Thank you!
URL for this presentation:
http://tinyurl.com/3b4286
Cynthia Williamson
Cynthia.Williamson@mohawkcollege.ca
Jenn Horwath
Jenn.Horwath@mohawkcollege.ca