Thing 15: Bookmarking with Delicious

There are three main aspects to Delicious that make it a handy service:

• Organise: Save URLs (or links) in the Delicious bookmark tool
• Manage: Collect and build links around a common theme
• Share: Share your links with other users and find and follow Delicious collectors with similar interests.

The great thing about Delicious is that it can be used in a variety of situations. So, for example, while I have collected links around the theme of Jane Austen in preparation for an article I hope to publish, I have also been able to build a stack of links on the theme of the Romantic Period Novel and share it with my students and colleagues, making it either private (for a select group) or public (available to all Delicious users).

How to Use a Social Bookmarking site:

Crucially, Delicious allows you to increase your search power and locate the best resources on the internet by engaging with other users, utilising a “collective intelligence” that has only been realised in recent years. With over 15 billion web pages on the internet, it can be very difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff—to pick out the best bits of information. One way you can optimise the benefits of Delicious is by building up a network of “friends” (there are 5.3 million users of Delicious), selecting those with similar research interests, “following” them (just like you would on Twitter) and letting them do all the hard research for you—just like a good friend should! Simply click on their profile and select “follow”.

For thing 15 we’re asking you to register for Delicious and bookmark or “tag” some useful sites. Follow the step-by-step instructions to get started.

Further information

• Using Delicious in Education (Useful for Researchers)
• Getting Started
• Top Ten Reasons to use Delicious.com (Thomas Stockwell blog)
• “3 Quick Tips for Effective Searching on Delicious” (This video is based on an old version of Delicious but gives some great ideas about how to use Delicious to find websites of use to your research.)

Emma Cragg : 28 Nov 2011 09:00 |  Tags: Organization Theme6 Thing15 |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem