#17: Delicious

Even though I have signed up to Diigo and Google Shared I mostly stick with Delicious

But for many teachers I work with, Delicious is an ideal starting point for them in the world of social software because it’s simple but powerful. I try to show my tentative and suspicious collegues that building a collegial network of users is far better than emails full of links with subject lines of “Have you seen this?” Sadly eyes still seem to glaze over when phrases like “tags” and “adding fans to your network” or even “bundling tags.” I am amazed at just how few teachers and even techies are using or even heard of social bookmarking. Some teachers know this technology exists, but don’t take advantage of it, or at least use it to it’s full potential.

I tread carefully and enthusiastically when trying to explain that it becomes more useful the more frequently it is used. Building up a big repository of valuable searchable links, adding other users into a network that provides a stream of personally recommended links and searching like-minded bookmarkers is where the real power lies.

Its all in the ‘teachable moment’ and ‘finding that entry point’ when mentoring other teachers. Making tools approachable for teachers is more important than giving more functionality than they need.

But it still feels weird that a service like Delicious, which has been around since 2003, is already

viewed by many high end users as an old tool when the majority of teachers are only just

becoming aware of the power of this simple but highly effective tool.