Exploring New Technology 1: Delicious?

So what's all this hub-bub about del.icio.us? After hearing so much about it, I decided I would be the killer librarian that I am and get out there to see what it is and what I think of it, at least on the surface.

The first thing I LOVED about it, and I think should be required reading for all newly initiated Web 2.0 users, was a clear, interesting, and funny description of tags. I appreciated their admission that it might not seem intuitive at first. That certainly was my take: what should I say? What is the "right" thing to say? Especially as a librarian, and a cataloger to part, how can I just describe sites how ever I want? Is there no order to the universe? I quake in my chair just thinking about it.

But that's the whole point: it is YOUR web, your bookmarks, your interaction with the web that makes it worthwhile. And I think that is what makes it slightly difficult for librarians and information scientists to wrap their heads around. The order is self imposed and self described. There is no hierarchy (interesting that they mention this on their site. Perhaps they anticipate librarians incredulity). There is no "right".

Okay, so I get the part about self-creating the web, etc. But still, I coudln't really see the point. I mean, why do I need to be tagging any of this stuff? Who cares?

And then we had a staff meeting. Paula, my fellow funky librarian, was mentioning, yet again, an awesome information literacy tutorial she had found. And it hit me. "Paula," I said, "you should use delicious to mark all these tutorials you love so I can find them. I can never remember all the sites you mention." Voila. Interactivity, purpose, innovation, learning: in the workplace, among librarians at a staff meeting!

This little expose on my interaction with del.icio.us also marks the first of a series of posts I will be trying as I delve into the myriad of technologies that I have been writing down on little post it notes to look at but never make time to check out. Here's my effort at depleting the number of post it notes I have around my computer!