This week, we were asked to explore content curation and bookmarking tools. I chose to explore Diigo, Google Alerts, and Paper.li. First of all, Content curation sorts through information on the web and presents it in an organized way on a specific topic. The curation tools allow for a library of related topics to be built that continues to be updated from content online. People and organizations now create and share media on the web and a content curator is valuabe when seeking quality content. In the past, I used to bookmark websites to keep track of sites that were important to me but now most of the sites I visit daily are on my most visited list. I haven't needed to bookmark sites as much as I used to. Content curation will have the ability to add to my professional development. With so much information available online, it is easy to learn from this information and acquire knowledge. By being an effective content curator, I will be able to stay informed about my field and learn more skills for my job. The web has so much information that isn't always reliable but curation helps with that issue.
Diigo is a bookmarking tool used to save websites and pages. Diigo is unique because it can be used on multiple devices including laptops, androids, iphones, and tablets. Instead of being saved on one device, everything is saved on the cloud that is easily accessible. The best feature that I liked about Diigo was the highlight and Sticky note options. Being able to highlight the important aspects of a source and take notes would be great for university. I'm used to finding resources including academic sources for papers and taking hand-written notes. I also would have to manually find the article again and source it. Diigo would allow keeping track of sources easier and possibly create better learning. In addition, having bookmarks available on every device can save time by not having to search each time and also allow for more learning with devices on the go.
Also this week, we were asked to research curation tools and choose one ot two to explore. Personally, I'm a fan of Google Alerts because it sends me alerts related to the keywords that I input. Part of my current internship involves sharing articles on professional hockey players so by using the keywords "AHL", "ECHL", "PHPA", "NHL", and "Professional Hockey Players' Association", I am able to find content to share with our followers. In addition, I also tried Paper.li because I thought creating a newspaper with information from the web would be exciting. After exploring, I decided that this tool isn't for me because I like to be a user and have information delivered to me rather then search for articles, create a newspaper and share it. It just seems like a waste of time when I could be exploring more.These curation tools could be in my education and career tools of my PLE. They make it easy to find reliable sources for school, and allow news to be delivered related to my field and work. I currently use Google Alerts to tweet articles that would benefit my followers.
Lastly, checking out my Feedly reader today, I found an interesting promotion being held by the Brampton Beast of the ECHL. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been in the news alot lately with their poor performance. Fans haven't been happy and have shown it by throwing jerseys onto the ice which resulted in three fans getting charged. The background to this story can be found here: Three Fans Charged After Throwing Jerseys Onto Ice. Now back to the Brampton Beast, who are holding a "Toss Your Jersey" night that takes place on February 5th when they host the Allen Americans. The plan is for the jerseys to be thrown onto the ice after the first goal is scored by the Beast. Each sweater will be donated to a local minor hockey league for children aged 4-14. The Moss Park Hockey League allows children the opportunity to play for free and they could use the jerseys to cover costs of the league. It's interesting that the Beast are taking advantage of the Leafs problems and it is a creative promotion. So what happens if the Beast get shutout? I guess that's another reason to throw the jerseys...I hope you enjoyed the curation tools that we learned about this week.
Mark
Hey Mark,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post. Like you, I to had the chance of exploring Diigo and Google Alerts. I found your explanations of the tools to be very descriptive. This gave me an even clearer understanding of the tools after I have already looked into them!
I see that you really liked the feature of Diigo that allowed you to highlight content. At the time of my exploration of the tool, I wasn’t able to fully grasp the benefit of this feature. Now, after reading what you have written I can clearly understand the benefit it offers. As you stated, it is very similar to taking notes in class, allowing you to pinpoint specific areas of interest in your sources.
I also really liked the article you found from your Feedly reader. I am a huge Leafs fan and well aware of the poor performances they have had as of lately… I find this article and promotion to be funny yet very affective. I am glad that the Brampton Beasts are putting the jersey toss to good use and donating the jerseys!
I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Cheers,
Chris