Delicious vs. Diigo

So, this class finally got me to join up with Delicious and see what it's all about. I have friends that have been using this for a while, and talk about it all the time. I have to admit, my initial thought was "Ok, that's great, but I can put bookmarks in my own web browser, what's the big deal?" I DO very much like the buttons that have been placed in my navigation bar, but I had those before for local bookmarks in Firefox.

Well, the obvious benefit of Delicious being web-based is that I can get at my bookmarks everywhere. More and more, I'm seeing this as a bonus, because it's becoming so much easier to get access elsewhere. And more than once since we have started this online MSE-PD program, I've been in one place finding resources, and ended up having to email myself the links somewhere else to use them. Delicious would have been a perfect fix for that! I also see this as a bonus for doing any sort of research in class. I find it's best to give students a few "starter" websites when we do research, or if we are doing a web-quest, perhaps there are places they have to go. Delicious might be a way that I can set up this portion of an assignment from work or home, and then have the students access that list at each of their own computers--saving time, and paper (if I were to print them out instead).

When I first opened up Diigo, I was assuming it was going to be nearly the same as Delicious, but the introduction presented some really great tools that Delicious does not have. Being able to highlight, and having it save is great. And being able to highlight in multiple colors is even better. I may want students to separate their focus for any number of reasons, and different colors would be a real visual cue. In addition, I like the idea of the sticky notes. This would be both a way to get a students' attention, or to place a question for them right IN the reading. Or, if that website is being used as a resource, maybe a sticky note/highlighting could be used to find my/their way back to a specific quote of interest.

The part of Diigo that really struck me, was that you can take a screenshot of the website and have it saved along with your bookmark. For sites such as news, blogs, and even perhaps wikis, that can change frequently, having a picture of the specific screen that you found interesting would be really useful. Sharing news coverage of a current even with a class, or even just showing something "cool" or "fun" to friends would be made so much easier this way.

I'm looking forward to using Delicious as I have already set up my account and a few bookmarks, but I think that I may just have to try Diigo out as well. There seem to be a few additional features on Diigo that would be very worthwhile--both in personal and professional use. The fact that both offer the option to network with other users is a big plus.

I think, even if these are not tools that I could use IN school, due to technology restrictions, these would be something that I will look into as resources for students to peruse outside of school. It would certainly be easy enough to set up a link on a school webpage, or have them set up accounts if they were interested. They could check from home, and find a tagged, relevant list of web resources waiting for them.