I introduce Tain Bo Cuailnge to Diigo
I set out last week to collect some appropriate websites for one of the senior English teachers in my school. She is beginning a study of epic works across the ages with her two grade nine classes. The classes have been divided into small groups and will be researching Gilgamesh, Ramayana, Aeneid, Kundalakesi, Tain Bo Cuailnge, the Epic of King Gesar, and Chanson de Roland. I continue to live in awe of the breadth of literary knowledge my colleague possesses. Every time I work with her I learn alongside the students. I wanted to impress her with my diligence and determination in finding the best websites for her students to use.

The students researching Gilgamesh, Ramayana, and Aeneid were the lucky ones; several Diigo users have publicly available bookmarks linking to excellent sites. Those looking for links to Tain Bo Cuailnge were not so lucky.


Now I have never done anything new in cyberworld. Never. I have always followed someone else's lead, mimicked something tried and true - I play it  safe online. What I am about to reveal is not ground-breaking in a technological sense, but it is epic from my point of view: today, I introduced Tain Bo Cuailnge to Diigo. That's right, I did something that has never been done, online. I tagged two of my bookmarks with Tain Bo Cuailnge. I am a true pioneer.


I just have to add one more successful moment. In this post, blogger Steven Anderson stated: "Another feature I love is the ability to auto-post to my blog. If you look at the post previous to this one you will see 10 of my favorite saves from last week. I set that up through my preferences. I tell Diigo what saves I want to post (either everything I save or specific tags) and what time I want it to post. And presto! A fresh blog post of resources to share" (Anderson, 2011). Now, presto, in my next post you should get a list of my new Diigo resources. Cross your fingers. . .
References
Anderson, S. (2011, October 14). Why diigo rocks! [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-diigo-rocks.html

Just like Brownies . . . (Girl Guides, not chocolate)

Today I got my first badge. I was approved to open a Diigo Educator Account, and to show their "sincere appreciation to those educators who are taking pioneering steps in getting their students and/or their peers started on collaborative research using Diigo’s powerful features" they have created nifty badges for educators to post on their websites (Diigo, 2011). I even got to choose a colour that matches my blog design!

I am now an official badge-carrying Diigo Education Pioneer. Acquiring my first badge led me to investigate the Web 2.0 badge phenomenon. For more information please have a read of this blog post.

  I have been using Diigo, a social bookmarking tool, since February of this year, but along with a few other Web 2.0 tools I enthusiastically signed up for in the same month (Symbaloo and Tumblr to name a couple), I have either ignored their existence or grossly underutilized their potential. Diigo falls into the grossly neglected category. I quickly learned how to create lists and downloaded the Diigo toolbar onto my desktop, and for the past seven months I have accumulated approximately 150 articles, blog posts, websites, slideshares, archived webinars, videos, and the like. It reminds me of my first few years of teaching when I photocopied entire teaching units with little thought given towards the usability of the stacks of paper I proudly labeled and filed. (And then recycled twelve years later in a massive purge that was initiated by a peculiar smell emanating from one corner of the garage. Several shredded box corners later we discovered what must have been small animal remains sloshing around inside a spare tire.)

And, here I am, back in that same rut, gathering more resources than I could ever need (digital resources, mind, but resources nonetheless), and flying solo on a social bookmarking site. So my goals are to: a) ease up on my hoarding tendencies; b) get connected with others on Diigo; and, c) discover the differences between this new Diigo Educator Account I have and my personal Diigo Account I originally acquired back in February.

Next post: Pioneering update.

References
Diigo V5.0 beta. (2011). "Wear your 'Diigo education pioneer badge' with pride :-)." Retrieved from http://www.diigo.com/teacher_entry/get_badge