Delicious vs. Diigo vs. Pinterest

Today I am comparing the three web media tools of Delicious, Diigo, and Pinterest.  I found these to be similar tools for storing and sharing website URLs.  Although each work in basically the same way, each have their differences. 

They each worked similarly in that the URL saved was, essentially, “pinned” to the website.  Each of these sites provides a “bookmarklet” that can be dragged to your toolbar should you not want to download their toolbar separately.  Delicious bookmarklet is displayed on your toolbar as “Add to Delicious”, Diigo’s bookmarklet is “Diigolet”, and Pinterest’s is “Pin It”.  The difference, however, is in what can be “pinned” to the sites.  Whereas Delicious and Diigo will accept any website URL, Pinterest works only with pictures you find on the web. 
 
When a website is found that you want to store and share, click the bookmarklet you want to save it to.  An information box in Delicious and Diigo will come up with the URL and the title of the article.  One can then write a description and choose the appropriate tags.  For Pinterest, it sources the picture back to its origin, and the photo is pinned to a titled “board”, usually with a certain theme.  Your comments/description can then be added.

Delicious and Diigo can be used interchangeably.  What is posted on one can be exported to the other, although I had a problem with that.  Having posted all of my websites on Diigo, I then exported them to Delicious.  However, although I received acknowledgement that they had been exported, my Delicious account had not received them.  Diigo does have a dual posting feature whereby the posts on Diigo will automatically be posted to Delicious.  However, this must be activated prior to posting.

I found that I preferred Diigo to Delicious.  Diigo has more features and helps to organize saved posts better.  Diigo not only bookmarks, but has the ability to highlight text you want to stand out.  It has a “sticky note” feature that can be used to make notes about the article.  The feature I found to be most useful was the “list” feature.  One can group into lists the posts found.  It is a great organizational tool.

Pinterest is a fun media tool to use, especially for those who are very visual.  “A picture is worth a thousand words” so they say.  It is important, however, that when choosing pictures from an online grouped topic to be used on your own personal board of the same topic, that one is selective.  It can be very easy to select all, thereby weakening one’s message.  One thing to be aware of with Pinterest is a photo’s copyright.  

Check out my accounts at Delicious, Diigo, and Pinterest.

 

What the Heck is THIS?

That was my thought when I first began seeing these images in various places recently. Interestingly enough, they represent shortened URL codes that can be scanned with Smart Phones having a scanner app.  Unfortunately for me, and others who have a phone that is "just a phone", it is another one of those great technologies that won't be used.
  
This is the QR code for the website
http://www.youtube.com/embed/nGeXdv-uPaw. Titled "She's Alive... Beautiful... Finite... Hurting..... Worth Dying For", it is a short, but powerful video of our beautiful earth and its current path to destruction.  It is a memorial to several named individuals who have died in their efforts to preserve it.

Podcasts and MP3s - Some Uses in the Library

Podcasts may have many uses in the library.  Perhaps the greatest use that I can think of is one that I have included in a previous blog; one that is already used in the Sarasota County Library system, as well as others.  At www.sclibs.net, podcasts are used in the “Kidszone” section for recorded stories and poems.  They also have Vodcasts, which are story-time videos.  Both are funded by the Kiwanis Club of South Sarasota and are read by volunteers or by the story’s author.  The selection is very small, however, which makes me wonder how popular they are and if very many people know they exist.  I do believe that this use of Podcasts and MP3s has a lot of potential.  It just needs to be better developed and marketed.  Also, if it is a picture book that is being read, unless the child has the book in front of them, interest would be lost.  This is where the Vodcast would be better.

Podcasts are good for auditory learners or even the visually impaired.  Along with story time, they might also be used for giving information, library news, book reviews, directions (i.e. how to get a library card or renew books online), interviews, helpful information about finances, health, etc., and maybe even “word-of-the-day”, although that would require daily website upkeep.  Podcasts might take a longer time to produce, but I believe they add interest and would also be helpful to people whose primary modality is not visual.     

My First Podcast - The Napping House

Who doesn’t love listening to a story - especially children?  My Podcast is a reading of the children’s book, The Napping House, written by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood.  It is a simple story about a house “where everyone is sleeping”.  Each page tells of another sleeping character layered on top of another, on top of a bed until, finally...!  Children love listening to stories like this, and I love reading to them, especially when I’m able to make the stories come to life with expression and my own sound effects.  The more outrageous, the more they laugh.  And I love to hear them laugh.      

             


 Listen to The Napping House