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For this quick blog post I am going to introduce Diigo.  This is another tool for bookmarking and annotating sites, similar to hypothes.is, which I reviewed previously.  Diigo has been around for quite some time by web standards, and because of this seems to have developed quite a versatile set of features.  I had actually heard this platform mentioned over the years, usually as an alternative to delicious, now defunct but in its heyday a very popular social bookmarking site.  Well, social bookmarking is still around, even as social media usurped some of its luster and utility.  I do believe social bookmarking is still relevant for conducting personal and collaborative research.

However I am also interested in web annotation, which is a standout feature of diigo.  In addition to web annotation, diigo can also annotate pdfs.  I did take the web annotation features for a test spin in firefox using the extension and it worked surprisingly well.  Various annotations and comments can be generated directly on a page and shared in a number of way, including via social media.  Sharing is flexible, with affordances for groups, public and private posting.

I was most intrigued by the organization and tagging features available in Diigo.  A unique feature is the ability to build and outline from annotations with hyperlinks to the various source articles.  This has great potential for writing and research, if the platform is robust.  Last, I’d mention the ability to conveniently tag everything.  I’m looking forward to taking a deeper dive into the tool and seeing if it will fit my needs.  It looks like there is a lot of competition in this space as I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at annotation tools, but the bookmarking along with annotation might make this a contender worthy of consideration.

I’ve spoken about the ISTE standards with annotation tools previously so I won’t discuss that in depth again.  However, in terms of collaboration I think social bookmarking still has value. I see it being used in the classroom with students, as has been discussed in previous research.  However, I’d also like to consider it as a way to build knowledge among communities of educators to strengthen PLEs.  The Collaborator Standards discuss Student-Teacher and Teacher-Teacher collaboration and work well here.  I hope to find more good things to report next week!

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash