Week 6: Tagging, Delicious, and Technorati

**If you are looking for Week 5, remember to look under 12 Things on the right.**

Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures & posts). Unlike library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (i.e.Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data anyway they want.

In week 3, we explored Flickr and saw that it allows users to take advantage of tagging. This week, in addition to exploring Technorati, we want to also take a look at a popular social bookmarking site called Delicious (formerly del.icio.us).

Technorati is a site that currently tracks 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. Delicious is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page and add tags to categorize your bookmarks.

Many users find that the real power of Delicious is in the social network aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. You can think of it as peering into another users’ filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to do 2 things: read a little about Technorati and try a keyword search AND take a look at Delicious and learn about this popular bookmarking tool.

Discovery Resources
1. Introduction to Technorati by Jennifer Hanson
2. Social Bookmarking in Plain English from the CommonCraft Show (also embedded below)

Discovery Exercises
1. Watch this introductory video about Technorati. Then Read more about what Technorati is and how it works.

2. Go to http://technorati.com/ and browse the different categories of blogs (lifestyle, technology, business, etc.). Do a search and look at the results in Posts, Blogs, Photos, and Videos. Do you see any differences?

3. View this introductory video about Delicious from the CommonCraft Show.


4. Explore Delicious. Select one of the popular tags on the right side of the page and see what sites others are tagging.

5. In the green Search bar near the top of the page, do a search on Delicious. Some suggested keywords: global education, China, Ethiopia, culture.

6. Create a blog post about your explorations in Technorati and Delicious this week.
Can you see any potential of these tools for PS programs?

OPTIONAL: If you’re up to the challenge, create a Delicious account for yourself and discover how this useful bookmarking tool can replace your traditional browser bookmark list. If you do create an account, be sure to let us all know about it on your blog!