Tag Archives: Delicious

Read your bookmarks later…

Posted on September 29, 2011 | 1 Comment

Instapaper seems like a handy tool (I’m probably the last person to discover this). I am planning to use it to replace my “to-read” bookmarks on Delicious. As for my other bookmarks, right now I’m just using the Bookmarks function of my browser, but it’s a less-than-ideal solution.

Someone suggested I should take a look at Evernote. Perhaps I will this weekend. Any other suggestions? At this point, I don’t use bookmarks heavily enough to be willing to pay for a tool, even a nominal amount, so that lets out Pinboard.

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Bye bye, Delicious…

Posted on September 27, 2011 | 6 Comments

I was more than a little surprised when I opened my Delicious page and found that everything had completely changed overnight.

Yes, I knew that Yahoo! was divesting itself of Delicious, and that a startup had bought it. I knew the transition was happening soon. What I did not realize — and probably this should have occurred to me — was that they were going to completely redesign Delicious.

In so doing, all of the features that I liked most and used every day were suddenly wiped out. Gone were the tag bundles I had spent years developing. (Tag bundles were a feature of the old Delicious that enabled you to group, or bundle, different tags together. For instance, I could bundle all the tags for a project together and access them easily from the sidebar.) Gone were the tag clouds that I could adjust to show only the most frequently used tags or all of them.

Now, in their place, is just a list of tags down the right side. Not all of my tags; I can’t figure out how to get to those. Not even my most frequently used tags. Just some random tags. The redesign renders my carefully crafted tagging scheme useless. This is probably worse than Delicious disappearing altogether, because this happened without warning and without the chance for me to preserve my work somehow.

Needless to say, I immediately exported all of my bookmarks to my browser. At least the new Delicious makes that easy enough to do.

This rude awakening underscores what we should all internalize as a fact of 21st century life: When your everyday tools are owned, operated, designed and controlled by someone else, you can’t count on them to stay the same and do what you expect, day after day. After years of using a site like Delicious or Google Documents or WordPress or any of the myriad Web tools available to us to store and organize our data, we start to take them for granted. But this experience has made it very clear that you can’t count on any of these tools being there forever. Or even being there tomorrow.

As great as the “cloud” is, and I’m a big proponent of Web-based tools and data storage, we have to remember that if we care about our data, we have to caretake it. That means making backups. Because you just might wake up to find it gone or irrevocably changed.

However, I’m not letting Delicious off the hook altogether. We should have been warned that in the redesign, data would be gone. Sure, the site is allowed to change and evolve — I know I don’t own it; I just get to use it for free — but show some respect for your users by at least giving us a heads-up. Is that really too much to ask of the cloud?

Here’s an article I found in The Atlantic that pretty much captures my exact feelings upon logging in to Delicious this morning. It’s a good read for anyone who keeps anything “in the cloud.”

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Is there any point to blogging anymore?

Posted on October 4, 2010 | 1 Comment

I enjoy blogging so much that I maintain several of them, but I have to wonder if there is a point. To be honest, it often feels like I am shouting into the void only for the privilege of hearing my own voice.

Many web tools have arisen that do certain jobs better that I originally used a blog for since I started blogging. For instance, the purpose of the first blog I started was to keep notes and recipes while I taught myself to cook. Now I use Cookbooker to organize my cookbooks and to make notes on the recipes I have tried. Not only does Cookbooker maintain a searchable database of cookbooks and recipes, but it allows me to connect to other people who own the same cookbooks I do and see what they think of recipes I haven’t tried yet. I can’t do this with my blog.

I also originally started a book journaling blog to keep track of what I had been reading and post book reviews. Now I belong to LibraryThing, which maintains a searchable database of all the books in my library with my book reviews plus lots of other useful information. And it makes recommendations for other books I might like based on what I read. My blog can’t do that.

An original purpose of blogs was to share links, and I often do that on all my blogs, especially this one. But let’s be honest: There are more effective ways to share and organize links, such as Twitter, StumbleUpon and Delicious, all of which I use heavily.

So why do I keep up my blogs? I will admit I don’t post as frequently as I used to, but I try to post something on each blog at least once a week. The blog is still best for long-form writing, especially the kind of writing I’m doing now, when I’m just spewing random thoughts onto the blank page to help me sort them and reflect on them. And the blog really excels at functioning as a kind of electronic notebook, organizing everything in one place: links, random thoughts, longer essays, even media like photos and videos.

So I probably will keep posting to my blogs, even if it feels a little like masturbation from time to time. But I will keep on using those other tools, too, where I do feel like I more genuinely connect to other people, because — let’s face it — more people are on those sites than are visiting my humble little blogs. My blogs will probably continue to be my catch-alls from those other sites as well as a handy place to post my original thoughts that can’t really go anywhere else.

And that’s really what the blog is best at: a place for original thoughts. I need a place like that.

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My social media world

Posted on May 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

This past weekend I joined Facebook, and now my social media world is so complex and intertwined that it makes my head hurt. To help me make sense of it all, I drew this map:

My social media map

My social media map

(I used bubbl.us, which is a really intuitive, easy-to-use, free mind-mapping tool.)

This doesn’t show all my social media sites, just the ones I use most regularly. But it did help me organize my social media efforts, at least in my own head. The black lines show everything that feeds into FriendFeed, which is my nexus and the most complete view of what I’m doing online. The gray lines show which services are being automagically updated by which other services, usually via an RSS feed or FriendFeed’s automatic output to Twitter.

I organized my social media universe into four quadrants. My home quadrant (tan) — my blogs but also my Google Profile – are my home bases on the Web and also where the world finds me. My networks quadrant (green) have organized quite naturally into a professional network that I use only occasionally (LinkedIn), a network of friends and family I know in real life (Facebook) and an online network with many overlaps with the other two networks that I use most frequently and is the largest (Twitter).

My links quadrant (purple) are my tools for collecting and sharing links. I read blog posts and other articles via RSS feed in Google Reader every day, and share interesting finds out to my network. Delicious is where I permanently store links and do research. StumbleUpon is more of a historical record of links I’ve blogged about, plus a lot of random fun stuff I discover while surfing the web.

Finally, there are miscellaneous tools that reflect my hobbies in the pink quadrant. I’m an avid reader, so I have several tools for organizing and recording my reading and books (LibraryThing, Lists of Bests, All Consuming), which feed back to my books blog and sometimes Twitter. I also use tools to track my goals (43 Things) and travel (43 Places), and to upload my photos (Flickr).

Of course, not everything is on here. I didn’t include really miscellaneous places like my Amazon Wishlist or Bookmooch, or places I rarely visit like Digg or Technorati. But it is nice being able to visualize my little online universe and my place within it.

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New social media integration in popular Web 2.0 tools

Posted on November 3, 2008 | Leave a comment
Image representing Google Alerts as depicted i...

Image via CrunchBase

There has been a flurry of improvements in integrating social media tools lately, which I wanted to tell you about. I’ve tried all of these new features. They all work great and offer a lot of value to users, particularly if you use more than one Web 2.0 tool.

First, if you use Google Alerts, you’ll see that they now support RSS feeds. No more having to clutter up your email inbox with alerts. Instead, you can read them at your leisure in your favorite RSS feed reader. But the RSS feed integration also makes it possible to integrate Google alerts into any application that can read and display the feeds, such as FriendFeed or your blog. Go to the Manage Your Alerts page to switch your alerts from email to RSS.

Second, LinkedIn profiles now support a lot of Web 2.0 tools, including WordPress and SlideShare. I’ve modified my LinkedIn profile to show the latest posts from this blog, for instance. It’s very easy to do; open your profile and click Add Application. These new features give you a lot of options for showing your professional network what you’re doing and helping them learn more about you.

There were some other applications that I haven’t tried but looked to be helpful if you use LinkedIn as a platform for browsing the Web and managing your Web content. For instance, you can create a reading list via Amazon and then get recommendations on similar books based on what your colleagues are reading. You can also monitor twittering about your organization or other keywords. There’s a lot of new stuff to explore, so if you haven’t dropped by LinkedIn lately, I think it’s worth a return visit.

Finally, FriendFeed has introduced backward integration with Twitter, so you can automatically tweet items from your FriendFeed. Fortunately, you can limit it to any one or more of the services in your FriendFeed, so you can choose not to tweet every Delicious bookmark or Netflix addition. But you can tweet your new blog posts, for example, without any extra effort on your part, which is what I am now doing. See this post to learn more.

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How to get started in the Web 2.0 world

Posted on October 2, 2008 | 1 Comment
Web 2.0

Image by Daniel F. Pigatto via Flickr

I have a colleague who’s interested in bringing some of our organization’s knowledge management efforts into the Web 2.0 world, and she wanted to know how to get started. My advice was, before getting an organizational blog or setting up a wiki or something like that, that she — or ideally everyone on her team — get involved on a personal level. Because I don’t think you can get Web 2.0 — and therefore your organization can’t get Web 2.0 — unless you’re doing it. It’s all about participation and collaboration, and that means you have to dive in.

So here are my suggestions for the steps you should take before you even think about setting up an organizational blog or wiki or anything like that.

1. Start bookmarking. You are soon going to be touring all over the web, and you need a way to remember the best blogs, videos and other stuff you find. You can use your browser’s bookmarks feature, but the Web 2.0 way is to share. So I suggest getting an account on a social bookmarking site. I recommend Delicious because it is so clean and easy to use, but StumbleUpon is also a good option. Both provide toolbar buttons so you can bookmark as you surf. Get in the habit of bookmarking the sites that interest you and tagging them in meaningful ways.

2. Read some blogs. Blogs are the heart of the social web. Somewhere out there, someone is writing about something you’re interested in or working on. Use Google’s blog search to find 5-10 blogs on those subjects and start reading them. Take a look at their blogrolls or the blogs they cite often, and start reading them too. Of course, there’s an upper limit to the number of blogs you can read, but you do want to be keeping up with at least 20, probably more if you can handle it.

RSS feed readers make it a lot easier to keep up with all those blogs, because they deliver new content to you, instead of you having to go out on the web to get it. I like Google Reader myself, but there are many  other choices. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer have RSS feed readers built in, as well. To find the feed, look for the orange RSS feed icon and click on it: RSS feed icon

The most important thing, though, when reading blogs is to comment on what you read and like. Web 2.0 is all about participation, and commenting is one of the main ways to join in. Once you start commenting on blogs in your niche, you’ll meet the bloggers and other commenters and begin getting to know the community that you’re joining.

3. Jump into Twitter. It’s time to up the interaction a notch, and Twitter is a good way to do it. You can start out small and build up as your confidence increases. Find a few people to follow; first check the blogs you’re reading, as bloggers are typically on Twitter too. See who they are following and follow any of those people who seem interesting, as well. There are plenty of Twitter applications that make following tweets easier.

Why are you on Twitter? You will get in the habit of sharing: what you’re working on, what you’re reading, links, whatever. And you will have a ready-made community to ask questions and get feedback from. What’s more, it’s fun.

4. Get a blog. It’s now time to join the conversation. And I don’t mean starting an organizational blog. That should come later. First, you should start your own personal blog where you can write in your own voice. You may choose to write about your work or about some other passion. What matters is that you’re adding your voice to the conversation.

Starting a blog is easy and takes less than five minutes. I recommend WordPress.com as the best free blogging platform, because even if you don’t know the software, it’s easy to learn and get started on right away. If you’re intimidated by having a full-fledged blog or don’t have the time, you can start a “micro-blog” on Tumblr and share interesting links, video, quotes and other short snippets. Remember to keep commenting on other blogs and leave a link to your blog when you do. You’ll soon find that folks who read your comments are stopping by your blog and commenting on what you’re writing.

And before you know it, you’re part of Web 2.0.

If you follow these steps, more or less, and get involved in the online community on a personal level, you’ll probably find it much easier to think of creative and worthwhile ways your organization can get involved.

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Quick tip for StumbleUpon: Instant reviews

Posted on September 22, 2008 | 1 Comment

One bookmarking tool isn’t enough for me. I use Delicious for research projects and sites I frequently visit, and I like to keep it clean and organized. So I need another tool for those sites that catch my eye and I might return to someday.

StumbleUpon, although not nearly as effective at organizing bookmarks as Delicious, works great for this purpose. Using the StumbleUpon toolbar, all I have to do to bookmark something is hit the I like it! button. Usually, I don’t even have to come up with tags. And even if I never return to the site via my StumbleUpon page, I can at least share with other Stumblers.

Here’s a quick tip to make stumbling even easier. Before clicking the I like it! button, highlight a sentence or two in the page’s text that describes the page or what you like about it. Then click I like it! and the highlighted text will be entered automatically as the page’s review, prefaced by the words “From the page.” When you return to browse through your bookmarks, the captured text should jog your memory as to why you liked the site in the first place.

Visit me on StumbleUpon.

Visit me on Delicious.

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    Create an online portfolio in del.icio.us

    Posted on June 25, 2008 | 2 Comments

    The Bamboo Project blog turned me on to another great use for del.icio.us bookmarks: Use them to create an online portfolio of samples of your work. Whether you’re a writer, artist, musician, designer, developer or even a project manager, you can benefit from putting together a portfolio. It will come in handy if you want to share your work potential clients, employers, colleagues or the press. This is also an easy way to keep track of what you’re doing as you go along, without too much maintenance overhead.

    You can view my portfolio here.

    Some tips:

    • Create a unique tag to identify the items in your portfolio. I used sturlington_portfolio.
    • Use the tag description feature to give your portfolio a title and write a short introduction for it.
    • Write a short description of each item in your portfolio explaining what it is and why you included it. (I think my descriptions could still use a little work.)
    • Remember to tag new items that you want to include in your portfolio with your portfolio tag.

    That’s it — it couldn’t be simpler. My next goal is to create a more formal portfolio using free Web tools.

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    What are blogs? And how can we use them? Resources list

    Posted on December 17, 2007 | 6 Comments

    This is a list of resources I have collected to supplement a presentation I’m giving at work on the subjects: what are blogs, how can our nonprofit blog effectively, and what is Web 2.0 anyway? These resources include many of the examples in the actual presentation as well as supplementary reading materials.

    View the presentation

    About Web 2.0

    Blogging Tools

    Nonprofit Blogs

    Blogs About Nonprofits Using Web 2.0 Technologies

    The Blogosphere (finding blogs of interest)

    Into Web 2.0

    • Tumblr – microblogging site
    • Twitter – microblogging site that integrates with text messaging and instant messaging (IM)
    • del.icio.us – Tag, organize and share bookmarks
    • Stumble Upon – review and rate web content
    • Digg – read and vote on web content
    • NGO Post – read and vote on web content discussing social welfare initiatives
    • Flickr – share, view and comment on photos
    • YouTube – share, view and comment on videos
    • SlideShare – share, view and comment on presentations
    • Wikipedia – world-famous collaboratively written encyclopedia built with a wiki
    • Wikibooks – collection of collaboratively written textbooks written using wikis
    • Facebook – well-known social networking site originally focusing on college students
    • LinkedIn – professional networking site
    • Dogster – social networking site for dogs
    • Causes on Facebook – nonprofits using Facebook to promote causes and raise money
    • IntraHealth Informatics’ Flickr site – nonprofits can share interesting photos to generate interest
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    I heart delicious…

    Posted on May 4, 2007 | Leave a comment

    Of all the multitudes of Web 2.0 tools that are popping up every day, I have found Delicious to be the most useful and the most used. The fundamental basis for its usefulness is a simple idea: one set of bookmarks, no matter how many browsers or computers you use. Adding the ability to tag, bundle and share bookmarks just augments this basic usefulness.

    My husband thinks del.icio.us is an evil conspiracy to track every single place we visit on the Web for nefarious but ill-defined purposes. If that’s the case, I say, then track away! If you look down the left side of this page, you’ll see all my latest del.icio.us links. This list is a real-time glimpse into what I’m thinking, reading and writing about. I like to take a look at it from time to time to see what patterns are emerging from my own web surfing and link collecting. Ideas emerge from bringing those subconscious connections into consciousness.

    Because every tagged set of links has its own RSS feed, del.icio.us just gets more useful and makes my life even easier. When I am working on a project, I can capture my research links in del.icio.us and give them all the same tag. I grab the RSS feed for that tag and plug it into a feed display on a SharePoint team site or on one of my blogs. Now I can share all my links on the project with everyone else who’s interested, without the hassle of copying and pasting URLs or making sure the links list is up-to-date. I just post a good link to del.icio.us with the appropriate tag, and it appears everywhere it needs to be. It all integrates with my regular work and research habits. That’s a fundamentally useful application.

    When I am working on a complicated project, I can create tag bundles with different tags corresponding to sections of an outline or project phases or whatever. As I research over days or weeks or months, I just need to post and tag the relevant links that I find. Then, when I’m ready to start compiling my research, it’s all waiting for me, already organized and labeled. del.icio.us is also useful for creating lists of things to do, such as recipes I want to make, articles I want to read or blog about, or a wishlist of things I want to buy.

    David Brewster at Management:Simple recently posted about how he can’t keep up with all that’s going on the wide world of Web 2.0. I don’t think we should even try. Sure, dip your toes in every now and then, see if something that catches your eye is actually going to help you do whatever it is you’re trying to do. And once you find something that really does work for you, stick with it. For me, it’s Delicious and WordPress and Gmail. It’s even Amazon’s Wishlist, which I use in ways Amazon probably never intended — it’s a great tool for a reader like me who wants to keep track of what I’m reading, what I’m going to read next and what I’m considering reading later. My husband gets a lot more use out of Flickr than I ever will, but he’s the one who likes to take photos. Backpack, LinkedIn, Technorati and Clipmarks haven’t proved as useful as I thought at first, but the jury’s still out. Digg, Twitter, Facebook… I cruised by and just kept going.

    Sure, there’s a lot going on and more coming online every day. You’ll only burn yourself out if you try to be on top of the latest and greatest all the time. Find what’s useful, use it and stick with it. Chances are, you aren’t the only one, and those are the sites and services that will make it beyond any 2.0 “bubble burst.”

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