Module 7: Folksonomies, Social Bookmarking and Technorati

A. First read a little about Folksonomies:

From Wikipedia
Folksonomies: A User-Driven Approach to Organizing Content

B. Del.icio.us

Step 1: read about social bookmarking

• 7 things you should know about social bookmarking, from Educause
• Wesleyan's Learning 2.0 module on social bookmarking

Step 2: create a del.icio.us account

1. read How do I get started
2. go to del.icio.us
3. click the <get started> link at the top of the page
4. follow the 3 steps to create your account. DO!! all three steps, including install the buttons. You may need to verify your account request via an email from del.icio.us.
5. close your browser and open it again to be sure the buttons appear

Step 3: use the del.icio.us search tools to explore sites and tags

1. Whether or not you logged in to your del.icio.us account, you can search for useful web sites. Try doing a keyword search (like "library 2.0")
2. Click one of the related tags and note how the results list changes
3. Finally, click a user name under one of your results to explore someone's del.icio.us list

Step 4: build your own list!

1. Now try building your own list in del.icio.us. First, open the brower you used to create your account (this way you can use the buttons you downloaded)
2. Then, log in to del.icio.us
• You can also experiment with our group account:
• Username: BotLib
• Password: delpilot#
3. Go to one of your favorite sites and click on the TAG icon to add the site to del.icio.us. Fill in or edit the information in the description, notes, and tags fields. Then click save.
4. Continue adding sites. To check out your list of sites click on the other del.icio.us button on your toolbar.

Importing booksmarks!
If you have bookmarks in your browser that you'd like to upload you can use the import/upload in your settings.

Here are some exaamples of del.icio.us in libraries

• http://del.icio.us/lagrangeparklibrary
• http://del.icio.us/virtualref
• http://del.icio.us/SanMateoLibrary?setbundleview=show
• http://sul-ic-rdm.stanford.edu:8080/cubberley/blog/archives/66
• http://del.icio.us/sjlibrarylearning2

C. Technorati

Technorati is a search engine that allows you to search across blogs, videos, music and more. It uses tags input by users and blog owners to index the content.

Read about tags: http://technorati.com/help/tags.html

Search Technorati

Enter your search terms in the "search for..." box, or click on one of the tags on the homepage. Search for phrases with quotation marks.

The results page is made up of tabbed sections of results (blogs, videos, music, etc.)

In the Blogs results, Technorati shows the title and description of the blog as well as a link to the blog location. Technorati also provides you with some general information about the blog, its ranking, an author profile, a list of the most recent posts, and the top tags associated with the blog.

In Advanced Search you do more more focused keyword searches. You can also see if any blogs are commenting on a specific website by doing a URL search.

(you might compare your Technorati search results to Google Blog Search)

Take a look at Julie's Nursing worksheet on searching Technorati:

\\Mercury\library\PubLibrary\BI\Nursing & Health\bnurs350\2007\Library Worksheets Summer 2007\Searching Technorati.doc

*if you can't access this file let me know and I'll send it to you!


D. Reflect (?) If you have time please post any comments to your blog.

1. what are the strengths and/or weaknesses of del.icious?
   
   
2. can you think of ways to use del.icio.us as a reference and/or teaching tool?
   
   
3. do you have any classes coming up where blog content could be relevant? what strategies would you use to help students read and interpret blog content in your discipline areas?
   
   
4. sites like del.icio.us and Technorati use rankings (popularity? authority?) How should we talk to students about these features?

Module 6: You Tube and Flickr

Step One: Introduction

This module will give you a chance to play with digital images – both still and moving – through exploring YouTube and Flickr.

Some background reading:

• 7 Things You Should Know About YouTube
• Priceless Images: Getting Started with Flickr – UW Restricted; from Computers in Libraries

Step Two: Experience You Tube and Flickr

Part A: YouTube

YouTube is a video hosting website that allows users to view, post, and share video content. While much of the content on YouTube is considered “amateur,” more and more “quality” content is being added to the site over time, including archival footage (old commercials, for example).

Similar video sharing sites are online as well. Google Video and Yahoo Video have been around awhile, but some newer ones are popping up, both for general and more specific audiences: Channel 101 (television and short film programming); Funny Or Die (founded by Will Farrell, features comedy segments); Metacafe; and more.

Let’s get started with YouTube:

1. Go to www.youtube.com and take a minute to study the home page. Make sure to look in each of the tabs listed across the top of the page, and click on the “Site” link in the very upper right of the page.
2. Search for a video on a favorite topic of yours.
   For example, you could search for ‘manny bullmastiff’ to find videos of my dog or you could search for ‘librarian’ to see what crazy librarians (or their students) are posting.
3. Click on the link for one of your search results.
   Note how these pages contain links to related videos, video responses, viewer comments.
   Note also the tags applied to the video – try clicking on some of the linked tags and see what other videos share that tag.
4. Optional: create an account, search for some videos you like and start a list of Favorites

Part B: Flickr

Flickr is an image management and sharing website whose goals are to allow users to move photos around through multiple means (i.e. email, RSS, posting to blog, etc.) and to enable new ways of organizing photos. It is this last goal that inspired them to allow users to “tag” (i.e. catalog, in library-speak) their images for easier retrieval; even users and friends and family viewing your images may add tags, notes, or comments. While image hosting sites such as this have been around several years, Flickr was one of the first to jump on the folksonomy bandwagon with its tagging and collaborative features.

Let’s go play in Flickr:

1. Go to www.flickr.com and take the tour if you’re not familiar with the site.
2. View the ACRL 2007 Flickr account here. (This account was developed from a contest and multiple ACRL 2007 attendees contributed to the collection, including yours truly.)
3. Browse or search within the collection to find a photo you like and click on it. What tags does this image have? Who posted it? Did anyone comment on it? When was it uploaded? What other metadata about the image is available to you?
4. Find the “Additional Information” section on the right. What are the images copyright restrictions (not all images in Flickr are copyright protected, the default is “All rights reserved” but users can change that setting in their accounts for each image)? Click on the “See different sizes” link. What are your downloading options?

Step Three: Manipulate YouTube and/or Flickr

I recommend you complete both of the following activities but feel free to choose just one if you’re under time constraints.

Part A: YouTube – Embedding Video clips

YouTube clips enabled for embedding (not all clips are; it’s up to the user posting the video) can be added to websites, blogs, social networking sites, and other tools that can read the embedding code. For more in-depth details on this, click here.

(Note: I haven’t found a way to seamlessly embed YouTube clips in PowerPoint unless it can be done somehow through the MS Script Editor, which I do not know how to use…)

1. Explore YouTube for a video you would like to add as an entry to your blog. If you’ve created an account, you might want to add some to your favorites and then select from those.
2. Open your blog and get ready to create a post. Make sure it’s set to the “Edit Html” tab where you compose your entry.
3. In YouTube, look for the “Embed” code (note also the URL right above for use in linking to YouTube videos):
4. Copy the code in the embed box, and paste it into the body of your new blog entry.
5. Publish your blog entry and view your blog to see your newly embedded YouTube clip! Woohoo!

Part B: Flickr

1. If you already have a Yahoo! account, login to Flickr. (You can still complete this exercise if you do not have or do not want a Yahoo!/Flickr account).
2. Search for an image you would like to add to your blog. For example, you could search for ‘manny bullmastff’ to find images of my dog, or you can try things like ‘librarian’ ‘lighthouse’ ‘cats’ ‘sausage’ or whatever.
3. When you get your search results, note how now you have the option to search full text or tags with your search terms.
4. Click on the “Groups” and “People” tabs. How do they connect you with related images and users?
5. Back under the “Photos” tab click on an image that you would like to add to your blog.
6. If you aren’t logged into Flickr, go to step 8. For those of you logged in, look above the image and click on the “Blog This” button and follow the directions to allow Flickr to access your blog. Click here for help.
7. Navigate back to the image you want to blog, and click on the “Blog This” button again to complete posting the image to your blog.
8. For those of you not logged in to Flickr: Click on the “All Sizes” button above the image to download the size you’d like to post on your blog, then use Blogger’s photo upload tool to add it to your blog entry.
9. That’s it! Good job!

Step Four: What Do You Think?

Now that you’ve had time to play with, explore, and manipulate the content in YouTube and Flickr, think about a few questions it raises and respond to these or other observations you have made in your blog, such as:

• How do we teach students to critically view and use content from sites like this? What questions of copyright, ownership, and authority emerge?
• How do Terms of Service affect the content users share via YouTube, Flickr and similar sites?
• What is “amateur” content and what distinguishes it from “quality” or “professional” content on sites like these?
• How can we use YouTube and/or Flickr for teaching and learning purposes?
• Why does everyone want to be a celebrity these days? How do you plan to get your 15 minutes of fame?

Module 5: Podcasts, video and downloadable audio

Step One: Introduction
So, you want to know more about podcasts and video podcasts? For a great introduction to this technology, please take a moment to read these two articles. Note: these podcast-centric articles can be extended to include video podcasting, just substitute “audio” for “video.”

• 7 Things you should know about...Podcasts – From Educause
• Podcast, 1 2 3 – From Library Journal
  

Step Two: Experience the Podcast
Here are some examples of educational podcasts and video podcasts:

• iTunesU - Universities like Stanford, MIT, and our own Cascadia Community College are using iTunesU to provide students access to free lectures, speeches, events, etc.
  
• Education Podcast Network - a directory of podcasts for educators
  
• University of Washington tour podcasts – tour UW via downloadable podcasts.
  
• From our colleagues Down Under, check out the Melbourne University Visions Video Podcast
• Open Stacks - a Librarian-related blog featuring podcasts on a variety of topics
  

Note: to hear podcasts, you will need MP3 software (like iTunes) on your computer or a portable MP3 player. Video casts may require a media player like Windows or QuickTime.

Step Three: Be the Podcast
Now it’s your turn to create a podcast!

There are many services out there that allow users to create and distribute audio content in the form of podcasts. Gabcast.com is a podcasting and audioblogging platform that provided the easiest way I could find to create your own podcast using minimal additional technology. Need an example? Check out my Gabcast post. Total time it took me to create an account, talk, and post: 7 minutes!

All you will need to create your own podcast using Gabcast is your computer and a telephone. Click this link to create a Gabcast account and simply follow the instructions on how to get started.

If you wish, you can easily post your podcast on to your Learning 2.0 blog, and sharing your test podcasts with the group is encouraged!

Step Four: Reflection
Now that you have experienced podcasts/video casts, and have made your own podcast, it is time to reflect.
How can podcasts or video podcasts be best applied to higher education and/or libraries?
What advantages or disadvantages are there to delivering information via this technology?
Other thoughts?

Let me know if you have questions about any of these technologies and I will do my best to help!

Updated module schedule

hi all,

Here's the revised schedule - I moved the last module so that folks can attend the librarian recognition ceremony on Sept. 5 if they want to.

Learning 2.0 Modules

		Topic(s)	Facilitator(s)	Discussion date
	Module 1	Blogs	Rob and Sarah	July 11
	Module 2	RSS and Newsfeeds	Alyssa	July 18
	Module 3	Wikis	Katy	July 25
	Module 4	Clickers	Venta	August 1
	Module 4	Clickers, continued	Venta	August 8
	Module 5	Podcasts, video and downloadable audio, Odeo	Amanda	August 15
	Module 6	Flickr, YouTube, Media Café	Leslie	August 22
	Module 7	Folksonomies and technorati (delicious, “library tagging tool”)	Katy, Sarah, Rob	August 29
	Module 8	“Mash ups” - Flickr + Google Maps	Suzan , Sarah, Rob	September 12

Learning 2.0 modules update

Thanks to Venta for a great introduction to Clickers! Based on the need to cover more material in this area, we will continue the Clickers module on August 8th. The next module - on podcasting, video blogging, etc. - will now take place August 15th. The Learning 2.0 module schedule has been updated in publib.

Thanks!