Thing 13

Tag! You're IT! 


I have been a del.icio.us user now for quite sometime. In fact, I have close to 700 educational websites bookmarked. Often times, as I am reading my blogs in Google Reader, I have another window open for delicious and am saving away! 


That may seem impressive, but really, it's kind of a mess. And, Tagging is the key. I have tried, midstream, to add more efficient tags, but I still find it difficult to locate what I am looking for. 


Here is a common scenario:


In September, Ms. Weckler finds an awesome website including games and lesson plans and videos regarding Space via Successful Teaching. She is really excited because she knows she is going to do a unit on the Solar System in December and this website will be a perfect addition to her lessons. So, she saves it as her 203rd bookmark and tags it 'science' and 'lessonresources.' 


December rolls around, and Ms. Weckler is getting her Solar System information together. She remembers that she saw a really cool website earlier in the year, and that the background of the site was pink. Or maybe it was purple?! She can't remember the name of it, though, and doesn't remember which blog originally posted it. But, thankfully, she is pretty sure she saved it to Delicious. She saves everything to Delicious! 


So, she heads there and is amazed that the tally at the top now says 452 bookmarks. She's been workin' this year!!! That Space site HAS to be here! So, she scrolls through her tags and finds science. Clicking that, narrows it down to 123 bookmarks. Hmm, none of the links on the first page look familiar or mention space. So, she clicks the "+lessonresources" and that narrows it down to 96 sites. But, none of these are looking familiar either. And none of the other tags seem to fit. So, Ms. Weckler takes the remaining 35 minutes of her prep time looking through the 96 links, but still hasn't found the link she had in mind when her students return from gym. 


This scenario has played too many times for me to count! Like I said, I have tried to add more and more tags, but it isn't a fail-safe system at all. I have broken it down by subject, category under each subject, teacher vs student, grade level...and much more. I think my store of bookmarks is a bit too big and that I should have managed it better from the get-go, but it's just too hard for me to let resources pass! 


So, on my To-Do List is "Organize Delicious Tags Better."