This week my twitter network has been buzzing about Diigo. I’ve got to admit it I checked it out over a year and half ago and dismissed it as I was del.icio.us fan. I figure there must be something new to bring people on board the Diigo train.
In my rediscovery of Diigo I realized that bookmarking is just a small piece of their services. People can share bookmarks with other users, bundle bookmarks with common tags, and tag recommendations. At this point you may be saying “okay what is special about this service?” Let’s start off with highlighting (no need for the Firefox plugin), comments & sticky notes on webpages, the mirroring of bookmarks with other social bookmarking services like del.icio.us, and a forum/bulletin board feature. I forgot to mention that you can twitter you’re bookmarks. Basically it takes social bookmarking and gave it steroids to give the user more functions within one service.
Here is the promotional video highlighting the diigo’s services.
Well done Diigo. I’ve given Diigo a lot of screentime and I’m finding more and more things to like about it. The great thing is that I feel like I’m hedging my bookmarks should del.icio.us or Diigo have a major outage (a.k.a. bloglines).
I’ve created a how to guide using Skitch and Google Docs for people if you want to learn how easy it is to use Diigo while maintaining another social bookmarking service like del.icio.us. You’re welcome to use it and share it with others.
Think about the cultural impact that could be made if we could get WiFi access into rural areas. Intel can make it happen for about $500. The device covers 60 miles with a data rate of 6.5 megabits per second.
In Maine we could use the existing MSLN network and put a device at each school. It would provide access to people who would never have the chance to access the Internet. It wouldn’t take money from other ISP because serious users are going to want faster data rates.
Sometimes you need to think big to make a change in society. Now let’s see what happens.
Through word of blog, Learning in Maine, I was turned onto a podcast called Wicked Decent Learning. After listening to one of their podcasts while shoveling snow (an uncommon occurance this winter I realize) I made sure I got the archives up to date and I’ve been listening to them ever since.
They are now 10 episodes into their journey and need your help…
Like the fair loon that swims with the best of them but has serious issues and looks awfully goofy when trying to get airborn, a new education podcast has taken flight in the podcast-o-sphere and the blog-o-sphere: Wicked Decent Learning. Created by two practicing educators, Wicked Decent Learning examines issues in education of importance to Maine and the world beyond. Each episode features a discussion as well as a number of integration suggestions related to technology, literacy and media. And, ayuh, we throw our fair share of western Maine shenanigans into the mix, too.
About Me: I am the technology teacher/integrator at the Mildred L. Day School in Arundel, ME. Technology is a passion of mine since I was in junior high in the 80's taking a fortran course through my math teacher's account at USM. Outside of work I am a husband, father of 2 girls, and rabid Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots fan. When I have free time I would like to golfing (despite the short season).
