#13 Del.icio.us tags and zombies.

I’ve heard of del.icio.us a while ago but never really got into it. I never created an account and forgot about it soon after looking at it. I didn’t think it would be that useful to me. Even now seeing that the next thing we do is del.icico.us I again didn’t think I would use it. After the bloglines set up and signing up to rss feeds I thought that I don’t really need to bookmark things anymore because if I like something I can just add it to my rss feeds.

But then I watched the commoncraft video explaining del.icio.us and it then made too much sense not to use it. That video was great, their site will be the first I tag. I won’t install the buttons on this computer as it’s a work one but when I get home tonight it will be the first thing I do. (Or maybe the second.) I also had a look at The Several Habits of Wildly Successful del.icio.us Users and found that very interesting as well. I’ll be tagging that site as ‘del.icio.us’ and ‘tips’ … I don’t really know what tags I should use but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it.

I’m planning our travel arrangements for next year (we leave March 8th) and have come across a lot of potentially useful travel websites that I would like to look at again later. If I’d been a del.icio.us user then I could have tagged them and found them easily, wherever I was. But now I have to find them again and then tag them. I can see that del.icio.us will be a useful resource in the future.

I can also see how del.icio.us could be useful in the library. I’m not sure if tagging should replace dewey or LCSH just yet but I do know that kids these days understand the meaning of the word ‘tag’ more than they do the words ‘subject headings’. I think del.icio.us would mainly be useful for library staff to tag sites they use most with enquiries, similar to the rollyo searchroll tool, the tags would link to only the sites we have previously seen and know are authoritative. It could save time when helping customers and when using it personally.

Below is a video I found on the commoncraft website explaining what a zombie is and how to survive an encounter with one. And also, if you’re interested in zombies, I’ve also added my friends’ short film below that – Undead Ted.