The what? Who? I don't know, I don't quite get it either. But what I do know is that The Common Ryan likes to bookmark transgender related topics on Del.icio.us. Or used to, anyhow. From May of 2008 to September 2008, this user created 98 bookmarks, tagging them with 175 different keywords, the most frequent of which were as follows:
The Common Ryan also shared a link to his own blog, which is also no longer being updated. Abandoned blogs are not uncommon, and I imagine the same can be said of social bookmarking pages. However, such material is often still available to the public online and can be mined for various purposes. Ryan's bookmarks, for example, provide a nice introduction to both bookmarking and trans and other gender topics. While it is not hard to find currently active del.icio.us users bookmarking the same topics, if you are new to the site, especially if you are new to social bookmarking in general, browsing through a static collection the size of Ryan's may be a better way to start out.
Some users have hundreds or even thousands of bookmarks, and wading through them all, even with the aid of tags to help in sorting, can become overwhelming; cases of information overload can develop, especially if you are like me and get the urge to start reading and bookmarking everything you see, as though it will all disappear into oblivion tomorrow. Ryan's collection is small enough to browse in its entirety in a short time, allowing one to quickly get a sense of overall content and to easily sift through items to pick out only the must-have pages for one's own bookmark collection.
One can also examine how he has tagged items for easy retrieval, evaluating if this kind of organization would be useful for one's own purposes. Learning by example, whether a good or bad example, is a valuable, time-saving approach! With Ryan, we see that he regularly used multiple tags for each item, which I do as well, to increase my chances of quickly finding a specific item later on. I may not remember the one specific tag I gave to something, but if there are five key words, I am more likely to recall at least one of them. He avoided redundancy, meaning you don't see multiple forms of the same word, so his tags are more efficient, and he also included a brief comment on each item explaining what it is for future reference.
Another advantage to browsing a static collection is that it isn't going to change on you in the next few days. A more active user may average three or more bookmarks a day. If you are just starting out with this technology and don't use it for a week, that user whose bookmarks you like could have another 21+ entries the next time you browse their content. That may not be a problem for some, but for others, I can see the confusion brewing already. I know someone who stopped using gmail because it was so different from what he was used to, he just couldn't adjust. And this is person creates web pages! Never underestimate the power of the mind to resist new ways of doing things.
If you are comfortable with navigating social bookmarking sites, and you have actually read this far, del.icio.us users mmilleryoung, solvent, and Queeruption each have in excess of 1000 bookmarks, regularly mark items relevant to gender and related issues, and mark items fairly frequently. They are good resources for your gender-related needs!
Profile: Alex
5 years ago
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