Social Bookmarking Tools Research Articles

Social Bookmarking Sites: A Review

Social bookmarking tools allow users to store, manage, search, organize, and share their bookmarks online and access them from anywhere. Although these tools have been around since the mid-90s, librarians have not generally embraced them as tools for building information resources. However, these are incredibly useful tools for collaboration and information sharing. Following is a brief description of some of the more popular social bookmarking sites and ways in which librarians are using them to help users navigate the Web. Features of Social Bookmarking Sites

Benchmarks for Assessing the Potential Impact of a Natural Gas Severance Tax on the Pennsylvania Economy

The Marcellus Shale natural gas play has the potential to provide an important source of energy for the U.S. and to create significant economic impacts for Pennsylvania. However, the Marcellus Shale development opportunity also has generated controversy about its potential environmental, safety, and health impacts. Whether to impose a severance tax on natural gas produced - and the structure, rate, and exemptions for such a tax - has been a focus of vigorous legislative and public attention and debate. A number of severance tax proposals have been offered. The potential impact of a natural gas severance tax on the Pennsylvania economy has received slight analytical attention, even though the Pennsylvania General Assembly intended to enact a natural gas severance tax by October 1, 2010. The research reported in this document was designed to estimate the magnitude of the impact on the Pennsylvania economy of a Pennsylvania natural gas severance tax. We benchmarked the impact of every $100 million of revenue collected from a natural gas severance tax between 2011 and 2015 jobs, business sales, income, and population in Pennsylvania. Of course, what is revenue for the Commonwealth is, at the same time, a production cost for Pennsylvania gas producers. For this reason, we treated the revenue collected as a production cost that gas producers cannot pass along to customers. Also, some yet-to-be-decided plan will allocate revenue collected to state government and to local county and municipal governments. Therefore, we also considered the economic consequences for Pennsylvania of spending the severance tax revenue collected under various spending plans. Severance tax and revenue spending plans that actually have been proposed are not evaluated in our analysis because the revenue yield and spending distribution for each plan have not been specified completely by their proponents. The revenue yields from each plan are dependent on the volume and price of gas extracted, which are factors that are exogenous to any tax structure and rate plan. The spending distribution plans will evolve through fiscal and political negotiation. As a consequence of these information constraints, we chose to benchmark the impact of every $100 million in severance tax revenue collected - treated in our analysis as $100 million of production costs for the Pennsylvania oil and gas industry - on the Pennsylvania economy. In addition, our benchmarks take into account the potential impacts of distributing each $100 million of revenue through state and local spending and through deferring spending by saving some revenue to mitigate environmental, safety, and health problems that might occur in the future. In this way, we seek to provide a yardstick by which various tax and spending plans can be measured. The REMI Policy Insight model was applied to simulate the outcomes of various scenarios that describe the potential economic and demographic impacts of each $100 million of severance tax collected, along with the current and deferred spending of these tax revenues by state and local authorities. We found that each $100 million of production costs added to the Pennsylvania oil and gas industry from 2011 through 2015 could generate a small impact on Pennsylvania’s economy and demography. Also, each $100 million of spending by state and local governments, even if some is deferred, potentially more than makes up for any losses resulting from each additional $100 million of production costs imposed by a severance tax. The benchmarks for the potential impact of a severance tax on the Pennsylvania economy are subject to numerous cautions, constraints, and uncertainties, some of which are discussed in this report. The report ends with an open invitation to civil dialogue about the potential impacts of a severance tax using an online discussion forum and social bookmarking tools. This conversation is started in this report with critical comments from two independent reviewers about our estimates of the potential economic and demographic impacts of a severance tax on natural gas extraction. Our main conclusion is that a severance tax on natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania would increase costs for gas drilling companies, but spending the resulting increase in state revenue generated by the tax could yield positive, but small, impacts on the state’s economy and population. This report was prepared using the resources and expertise of the Penn State Institute for Research in Training & Development. Planning, conducting, producing, and distributing this report was not funded by any organization, entity, or individual internal or external to Penn State.

Social network dynamics in international students' learning

The potential for the internationalisation of UK HE to bring diverse viewpoints and perspectives into the curriculum has not been fully realised. One of the many obstacles to this may be our lack of understanding of how international students use and build social networks for learning, information sharing and support, and how this impacts on engagement and learning. The literature suggests various ways in which network positions and learning might be associated. In this study we used a range of tools including social network analysis (SNA), observation, interviews and photographic evidence to investigate the social networks developing in a class with a very diverse make up. We wanted to discover how the network develops and what shapes this. We found that the network shape was less immediately visible than might have been anticipated. Programme of study and language were found to have a strong effect on who talked to whom. In class networks were strongly influenced by the timing and character of the assessment, but pre-existing ties outside the classroom were significant for on-going affective support. Isolation in the network tended to be linked to where the person lived and cultural factors. Based on these findings we develop a detailed plan for a curriculum redesign. We propose a more intense and complex form of group work. The topic and approach of the assignment would stress a multi-cultural approach and group make up would be determined by the tutor, based primarily on mixing nationalities. We also propose that students share their products online with wider communities, in some part bringing their external networks into play and visibility in the classroom, certainly giving centrality to network related skills as a classroom issue. In addition, we propose using a social bookmarking tool to minimise isolation of some individuals in the network. Future work will be to implement and evaluate these interventions.

Social Bookmarking Tools as Facilitators of Learning and Research Collaborative Processes: The Diigo Case

Web 2.0 has created new applications with remarkable socializing nuance, such as the SBS (Social Bookmarking Systems). Rather than focusing on the relationship between users, the SBS provide users with the necessary tools to manage and use information that can later be shared. This article presents a description, analysis, and comparison of different SBS, which are categorized as web applications that help to store, classify, organize, describe, and share multi-format information through links to interesting web sites, blogs, pictures, wikis, videos and podcasts. Also emphasized are the advantages for learning and collaborative research that SBS produce. In this paper, Diigo will be specifically studied for its contribution as a metacognitive tool. Diigo shows the way each user learns, thinks, and develops the knowledge that was obtained from the information previously selected, organized, and categorized. Thus, the information becomes highly valuable, and knowledge is cooperatively built. This knowledge induces collaborative learning and research, since the tags that describe marked resources are shared between users. Consequently, they become meaningful learning resources that provide a social dimension to both learning and online research processes.

Von traditioneller wissenschaftlicher Kommunikation zu „Science 2.0“

Science 2.0 refers to new practices of researchers who publish, communicate or organize their work by using Web 2.0 technologies. With Open Access as a basic paradigm, typical applications are wikis, weblogs, social networking and social bookmarking tools. With an online survey conducted at universities in Germany, this study examines researchers' knowledge and usage of those applications.

Collaboration Between Librarians and Learning Technologists to Enhance the Learning of Health Sciences Students

Collaboration between Librarians and Learning Technologists at Bournemouth University (BU) has been stimulated and cemented by Pathfinder funding from the Higher Education Academy. This paper will consider four case studies collected as part of the eRes Project that describe the use of Web 2.0 technologies in the School of Health and Social Care at BU. The project aimed to enhance the student learning experience in an increasingly electronic environment. This was achieved by developing and disseminating innovative pedagogical frameworks, bringing together learning activities and academically led quality e-resources within the unit of study. An e-reading strategy which encompasses models for resource discovery and e-literacy was developed, drawing on the experiences and findings of the case studies. Issues considered in this paper will include accessing academic electronic reading materials and using a social bookmarking tool integrated within BU's virtual learning environment with students studying away from the main campus. Additionally, the paper will consider how technology can be used to motivate students, especially in large groups and how it can be used to engage students with a subject perceived as “dry” or “difficult.” The rich possibilities of health science materials can be exploited more fully using new technologies embedded within the curriculum.

대학 수업에서 소셜 북마킹의 활용: 학생 인식 및 행태를 중심으로

This exploratory study describes the social bookmarking perceptions and behaviors of students in university courses. Although an emerging discussion regarding the value of social bookmarking tools exists, how users adopt tools in practice is not well known. Students were asked to utilize the bookmarking tool del.icio.us to store information relating to course projects. They were also asked to comment how they employed del.icio.us for course projects. The study analyzed student perceptions and behaviors when using social bookmarking tools for university coursework. The study noted that the use of tags, notes, and networking within these social bookmarking tools remained less active and social bookmarking services in Web 2.0 as shared collaboration, shared communities, and vertical search were less present. Utilizing social bookmarking tools to facilitate personal information management includes the activities of information use, information re-use, and mobility.

Exploring Social Software at UBC Library: The TOTS Series

Keywords: Web 2.0, social software, collaboration, library 2.0, professional development Background The Tools for Outreach and Teaching Series (TOTS) was created in May 2007 to provide a venue for librarians and library staff at University of British Columbia to explore emerging social software tools that might be used in their work in library and for outreach and instruction. The creators and coordinators of series are three reference librarians from different branches at UBC Library: Susan Atkey, Humanities and Social Sciences; Katherine Miller, Woodward Library (Life Sciences) and Lindsay Ure, David Lam Library (Business). The series was born out of a desire to provide a collegial, informal, and non-threatening atmosphere for exploring emerging technologies and their potential use in an academic setting while reducing some of fear of unknown that often surrounds new technologies. The series acronym TOTS reflects playful, exploratory approach to these potential new tools that creators wanted to inform sessions. TOTS was inspired by other library efforts to address need to keep pace with emerging technologies, such as original PLCMC Learning 2.0 Program http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com/, Five Weeks to a Social Library course http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/ , and Learning 2.0@Mac http://macetg.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/learning-20-mac-week-1/ The series is a grassroots effort which has enabled us to move quickly to keep pace (or, attempt to keep pace) with seemingly never ending stream of new social software tools that are being developed. Although series is a grassroots enterprise, we did approach two relevant librarywide committees to sponsor series, including assisting with facilitating group discussion and sponsoring refreshments for sessions. We would like to acknowledge support of members of eLibrary and Reference and Instruction committees at UBC Library. Structure Each two hour session has three key elements: speakers, sandbox, and discussion. Firstly, series draws on local knowledge and experience. We have a standing invitation to all UBC librarians and library staff to speak about new tools they are passionate about using, either personally or professionally. We also approach librarians and staff who we know are already advocates or fans of a particular technology to participate as speakers, highlighting how they have applied these tools in their work. The second core element is focus on hands on, exploratory learning, which is reflected in series acronym TOTS. Each session provides participants with opportunity to engage with technology in an informal, experimental environment which we call the sandbox. The format of sandbox depends on specific tool: it may involve bringing in laptops and letting staff try out specific tools, or setting up a wiki and inviting staff to create their own page. Finally, each session includes a group discussion on potential value of tools to our work, and advantages and challenges they might bring. Sessions Sessions are planned and offered at relatively quieter times of year, when we have fewer reference and instructional obligations and can think ahead and plan for coming year. Eight sessions have been offered so far: Wikis Virtual Worlds Social Networking Tools RSS Social Bookmarking Tools Google Tools: Part 1 Google Tools: Part 2 Real-Time Communication and Teaching Tools Another session, Mobile Devices is planned for July 2009. Most sessions have been attended by 30 or more participants, which is a full house for teaching spaces we used. To date, 15 speakers, representing a number of UBC Library branches, have shared their experiences with their colleagues, some in multiple sessions. …

Web 2.0 rollercoaster. A ride we should all take

Web 2.0 rollercoaster. A ride we should all take

Searching with tags: Do tags help users find things?

AbstractThis study examines the question of whether tags can be useful in the process of information retrieval. Participants were asked to search a social bookmarking tool specialising in academic articles (CiteULike) and an online journal database (PubMed) in order to determine if users found tags were useful in their search process. The actions of each participants were captured using screen capture software and they were asked to describe their search process. The preliminary study showed that users did indeed make use of tags in their search process, as a guide to searching and as hyperlinks to potentially useful articles. However, users also made use of controlled vocabularies in the journal database to locate useful search terms and of links to related articles supplied by the database.

Using RSS feeds and social bookmarking tools to keep current

PurposeWith really simple syndication (RSS), library users can have information delivered to them automatically, instead of spending large amount of time searching databases, web sites and blogs for new literature in their subject fields. The availability of social bookmarking tools gives researchers new ways to discover, share and store information for their research. This paper aims to provide information on how academic librarians can use RSS feeds and social bookmarking tools as mechanisms of current awareness and resource discovery.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on the ways of keeping current using RSS feeds and social bookmarking tools.FindingsRSS feeds and social bookmarking tools help manage information and save time as well as increase access to new information.Originality/valueThe paper showcases how academic librarians at the University of Canterbury Library teach students to stay current by using RSS feeds and social bookmarking for current awareness and resource discovery.

Discovering shared conceptualizations in folksonomies

Social bookmarking tools are rapidly emerging on the Web. In such systems users are setting up lightweight conceptual structures called folksonomies. Unlike ontologies, shared conceptualizations are not formalized, but rather implicit. We present a new data mining task, the mining of all frequent tri-concepts, together with an efficient algorithm, for discovering these implicit shared conceptualizations. Our approach extends the data mining task of discovering all closed itemsets to three-dimensional data structures to allow for mining folksonomies. We provide a formal definition of the problem, and present an efficient algorithm for its solution. Finally, we show the applicability of our approach on three large real-world examples.

Social Software for Libraries and Librarians

This paper describes social software and its potential and current use in libraries and by librarians. Technologies discussed are social bookmarking tools, social reference managers, social media applications, and collaboration tools such as wikis and group word processing as well as RSS, browser tool bars, and blogs.

Social Networking

SUMMARY The major social networking tools like MySpace and Facebook give people an online identity-and an online space to call their own. Other social networking tools are more nuanced than sharing whole personalities like on MySpace. Tools like Library Thing, Flickr, and del. icio.us that focus on connecting people through certain media and interests offer specialized value to users. This paper describes major social networking, social media sharing, and social bookmarking tools; what they are used for; and how libraries and librarians are using them. Tagging, a concept critical to social bookmarking and social media sharing, and folksonomy are discussed in relation to these tools.

Social Bookmarking Tools (II)

Social Bookmarking Tools (II)

Social Bookmarking Tools (I)

Social Bookmarking Tools (I)