23 THINGS - THING 7

BOOKMARKING

There are dozens of bookmarking sites out there from the traditional, hierachical lists of links, to the more recent, visual mind-maps and magazine formats. They all do much the same thing; allow us to organise our thoughts and provide quick links to useful tools and our favourite websites. In some cases they offer much more, such as the ability to link documents or photos, add keywords (tagging) and, as with all Web2.0 tools, to share and comment on other people's collections. But why do some bookmarking sites appeal more than others?

Identifying your Working Style: Are you a Vertical or Horizontal Organiser?*

American philosopher, John Perry, identified two types of organisational thinking. Vertical organisers tend to to work on one task at a time, with an uncluttered surface and make good use of filing cabinets and (in a computer sense) hierarchical folders. Traditional bookmarking sites favour vertical thinking.

By contrast, horizontal organisers like all their projects spread out in front of them so everything is close to hand. The approach is used as a memory aid to keep track of project status, and as a prompt to carry out tasks. More modern bookmarking sites, such as PearlTrees, are better suited to horizontal organisers

* from: OUCS (2011) Reserach Information Managment: Organising Humanities Material. Oxford University Computing Service, Oxford.

Google's hierarchical approach with lists grouped by topic, compared
with the mind-mapping approach of  Pearltrees                       



Bookmarking Tools

There are hundreds of tools available. Some of the more popular ones include:

Google Bookmarks - Hierarchical. Allows grouping by topic using "labels". Sites can have multiple labels. The future of Google Bookmarks is uncertain.

Delicious - Hierarchical. Links can be grouped into themes called "stacks". Users can share individual links or entire stacks.

PearlTrees - Mind-mapping format. A browser extension or app lets you "pearl" (collect) the page you are visiting. Option to connect to your Twitter account.

Scoop.it - Magazine style based on topics. Users can collect articles, blogs, twitter lists, photos, videos, etc.

Pinterest - Magazine style. Create boards with compellling visuals based around topics of interest.

Evernote - Note-taking tool. Create or import text, documents, webpages (or webpage excerpts), photos or  voice memos. Notes can be sorted into folders, then tagged, annotated, edited, searched and exported as part of a notebook.

Other, more academic sites include: CiteUlike and ReadCube.

The Challenge

Explore some of these (or other) bookmarking sites. Consider what works best for your organisational thinking style. Join one (or more) of these and connect with other users. Blog about your experiences.