THING 6 -- Social Bookmarking

I have some familiarity with the concept of Social Bookmarking, as Ruth introduced me to furl a few years ago. I played around with the site for a little while, but I never got around to transitioning all of my bookmarks to it. Likewise, with del.icio.us, I find it very useful/helpful/time-saving, I just don't know if I will be organized enough to use it. Then again, I wasn't sure I would get into RSS feeds (rather than visiting the sites individually), and now I use them quite regularly.

Overall, the del.icio.us experience has been quite interesting. I spent a lot of time exploring other staff picks...FUN!

I also added my own staff pick, kidsinmind.com. This site is great for parents who would like to "monitor" the appropriateness of popular films before they watch them...because, no, not every parent has the time or inclination to pre-view every film their children want to see. Granted, whenever I recommend this site to parents, I always warn them that the play-by-play of each movie is so detailed that it may ruin parts of the movie for them, but it is great if they want a heads-up for questionable behavior (before they head out to the theater or check out the DVD). I also use it to help me when ordering DVDs. While I really do watch many of the films in our department, there are some I have no desire to see (e.g. "The Game Plan") and sometimes there is a fine line whether a movie would be better served in the Adult or Youth collections. This site breaks down any questionable content into three categories: sex & nudity; violence & gore; and profanity. It really dissects things at a basic level, even an innocent peck on a cheek or use of the word "dummy" would be listed.

Here is an example of some of the more innocent occurences for each category (from the listing for "The Game Plan"):

Sex & Nudity -- A girl pushes a "romance" button on a remote control and the lights dim and romantic music plays.
Violence & Gore -- A man is blasted with super soakers and water balloons (he is not harmed).
Profanity -- 1 mild anatomical term (butt), Name-calling (stupid, mean, idiot).

The site also lists discussion topics and sums up what they believe each movie's "message" is. Whether or not you have children in your life, I urge you all to take a look at this helpful Web site.

Going back to the premise of Social Bookmarking, I think some useful tags for the Library would include Library departments that sites may be relevant to, collection areas, user interest areas, etc. I also like many of the tags that other staff members came up with. I am constanly surprised at how on each Thing I have accomplished, I have learned so much from the other perspectives of the staff participating. I am learning just by doing, but then I am also learning by reading what others have done...ADDED BONUS!