Thing 14, Week 6

I joined Technorati and claimed my blog. Did the search on school library learning 2.0 and compared the results for posts and blogs. Obviously, the posts are more specific and the list for blogs was just descriptive of each blog. The posts right now have a lot to do with the launch of School Library Journal's 23 Things online tutorial. I think that's great so more people can get through this stuff. I haven't seen the "tag" search entry for this search yet.I was able to add two Technorati gadgets to my iGoogle pages. I added the Technorati RSS that displays the Technorati "Front Page" titles and I also added a tag tracker gadget that tracks whatever posts have been added regarding whatever tag you are currently tracking.

I can see where tracking blogs and keeping up with them in certain subject areas could be helpful in terms of some research applications but I'm concerned that the overwhelming amount of information may be difficult for students to sort through along with searching information with true authority. It would be interesting though to see how they did after they were armed with some good information about a particular subject and then let loose to track some blogs using tags that relate to the subject they are researching.

In terms of "tagging", I think it can be a great idea but unlike library cataloging, tagging is going to be very subjective. Everyone may have their own idea of what kind of tag a post should have and if you add in slang, dialects, and even the age differences in the people doing the tagging, it might not always be the best way to find information. However, that said, tagging could be a place to start or as I said above, a place to compare your own research with the research of others whether good or bad.