Organizing Web Content: Symbaloo & Diigo - Unit 2, Activity 3

Finding Tagged Resources in Diigo

Diigo becomes powerful when you collect a large number of resources. Since most of you have only a few resources in your Diigo account, we will use another Diigo account (that has built up years of resources) to learn about searching content. In your browser type the URL:

www.diigo.com/user/lsinrc

In the box "filter by tags..." type the word Chromebooks. Note the resources are only resources that the user chose to use that tag, and as you scroll to the bottom of the page you will see how many articles/resources are available.

Delete Chromebooks and type iPad in its place. Take note that there is still a overwhelming number of resources for iPad. You still need to narrow this large list, so the best method is combining multiple tags. Next to where you typed iPad type the tag Apps. The list is significantly shorter. You can even shorten more by adding a third tag:

iPad Apps Lists

(Lists is a tag for collections like "Best of", "50 Favorites" or "Top 10").

As your collection grows, tags become increasingly important. Especially if you are new to tags, the best advice is to use as many tags as you can brainstorm at the moment--you really lose nothing by adding unnecessary tags. What you do have to be careful of is using tags that are too generic, e.g. education. At least half of your bookmarks could be tagged with a broad term, so you need to determine for yourself when you would use that term--tags that are used with most links are not terribly helpful. Specific tags help you to narrow, but multiple tags are the best method for narrowing to find exactly what you want.

How Links Are Organized

Note on the right side of each link is the date, and that the links are in chronological order, most recent at the top. Almost always when looking for resources, starting with the most recent and working backwards is the most convenient. Often I hear from teachers who are worried about taking time for "cleaning up" old Diigo links. Concern for old links is not really necessary as they move to the bottom of your lists as new links are bookmarked. As your number of bookmarks grows, the older items become less prominent.

Your Turn:

Try other combinations of tags to narrow the list to find just specific information.