Discovery Task #9 and 10: Tagging

Library Bob has been on a sort of temporary hiatus for the past couple of weeks due to a sudden family emergency, the start of Summer Reading Games 2007 (Get A Clue! / You Never Know!), and simple procrastination… The last is the worst.

Now I’m back. Blogging for laptops!

The only other way I know of to get a free laptop out of blogging is to write positive stuff about Microsoft. Let’s give it a shot…

Microsoft rules!!!

Bill Gates for President!!!

Get Windows Vista now!!!

Microsoft, saving the world one user at a time…

….

I’ll let you know when my new laptop arrives… it’s worth a shot… meanwhile…

Task #9: View the 12 minute Del.icio.us tutorial video(12 min video)

Ok, so I watched the thing. Actually, first I removed QuickTime and installed QuickTime Alternative. I mean, sometimes it’s okay to watch a Net Vid in a 1″ by 1″ box, but sometimes I would like to see it a little larger. Especially when there is a screen capture…

Which brings me to another point: podcasts. Unless the information you are trying to convey will be in someway enhanced by me actually hearing your voice, just don’t! If you truly believe you are going to be the next greatest thing in talk radio, and you need your stuff out there so all the ‘ditto-heads’ can propel your meteoric rise to fame, ok (but only if you are good…) Otherwise, type it up in Word (or better yet OpenOffice), convert it to HTML markup, and upload that puppy! Easier for me, easier for you, everyone is happy.

Task #10: Visit Sharon Morris’ (of the Colorado State Library) del.icio.us site, Sharmor and take particular note of her Library Issues and Library Tech tags. Also, check out Penn Tags in the University of Pennsylvania’s online catalog.

Don’t forget to blog about your experience with del.icio.us and discuss some useful tags you found! And, tell us what you think about library catalogs allowing users to (gasp!) enter their own classification via tagging.

Ok, visited the sites, saw the tags, got the t-shirt. Sorry, this is one Web 2.0 area in which I just don’t like to play. Sure, I’ve seen del.icio.us before, tried it a couple of times, but I just don’t feel it. You see, I like the good, old-fashioned hierarchical nested lists of bookmarks. Give me a series of folders which I have categorized myself, with relevant links all nicely nestled in their homes, and I am a happy camper. I have no use for a random list of tags, some of which are bigger than the other. Just doesn’t make it easier for me to find what I need.

As far as library users adding tags to a library catalog database, I am o.k. with that as far as it goes, so long as the patron tags remain separate from the normal search functions. They should be available by request, but should not modify or supercede the formal listing.

See you next time for Professional Development Websites….

-SPQR