Thing #14: Technorati and How Tags Work

After exploring this Thing and the last one, I've come to realize just how important and beneficial tagging can be. But it's fascinating that the same principle works in different ways; that is, in Delicious the users tag the content, helping them save and categorize sites they want to remember . However, in Technorati, that function belongs to the publishers or creators of their own blogs to help them get their message out to a larger number of people. So I guess a person would choose one or the other of these (Delicious or Technorati) depending on their needs and perspective. Both could be useful for research. In my school situation, we would probably use Delicious more so that the students could recall the sites they had found previously and might want to use again.

When I searched the blogosphere for posts, I got 121 results with the term "School Library Learning 2.0". Changing to search for blogs, there were 21 results, and by limiting the results to tags only, I ended up with 28 (most of which were from our Library2Play blog).

Thing #12: Creating Community Through Commenting

These readings brought up ideas about blogging that I had never thought about. I especially appreciate Vicki A Davis' comments on her Cool Cat Teacher blog about newbies. Being one myself, it is sometimes hard for me to believe that I might actually have something to say that could be useful to others. She makes the statement, "If the 'experts that be' listen to newbies they can learn valuable information that will help answer the questions of beginners." I tend to be a lurker rather than a contributor most times, so Vicki's blog has inspired me to speak up more often.

Although there are lots of discussions on the subject of commenting, I particularly like what Meredith Farkas says: "Lots of people hold on tightly to what they know and don’t give it out unless someone’s paying. I believe strongly that my willingness to share has been a driving force in my professional success." To me that statement sums up what blogging is all about. It's nice to be able to share ideas freely.

I have posted comments on five Library2Play blogs that captured my interest for one reason or another: Book Diva (love her background), Ginny's Blog, Techbrarian Talk, Farmgirl Librarian, and Library Larks. Some of these are in my school district, one is in my part of the state, and a couple just caught my eye because of the blog name and content.