Work & Learning Partners

I'm posting this to give some examples of the kind of process we;ll be using to make it as easy as possible to build up a project resource-base using del.icio.us.

One thing which I'd like to get clear is the difference between a del.icio.us USER and a del.icio.us TAG. A user is a login name registered with del.icio.us - an account with the service. A tag is a wortd or words added in the 'tags' field when bookmarking an item - it is just used to organise bookmarks, not to log in to the del.icio.us system and create them.

To add bookmarks to del.icio.us you need to be able to log into an account. The reasons why I suggest that we all get our own accounts, instead of sharing the username and password for the one account are:

We will all likely end up using del.icio.us for other work as well as for this project. If you opt to stay logged into your own del.iicio.us account all the time, it makes it very quick to add new bookmarks whenever you feel like it It's dangerous to let too many people have login rights to the one account - too easy to accidentally delete other people's posts etc. It is not necessary to post all our items directly into the WLp account in order for them to arrice there. We here at KnowNet have written scripts and utilities for pulling bookmarks in from multiple accounts.

It is hard to show you what I mean within the current WLP site because we do not yet have very many resources. BUT we have several examples of other projects which have already built up substantial del.icio.us resources by individual usrs tagging over a period of time. In each of these cases, the project del.icio.us accounts not the direct repositories for the original bookmarking our users did - they added the links in the del.icio.us accounts they are usually logged in as, and we later "sucked" some of their tags from that account to the project account.

So far, we have implemented two main kinds of interface for displaying del.icio.us resource bases within project sites:

Tag Clouds these are displays of all the tags used to categorise the bookmarks in a del.icio.us account. In most of our tag cloud displays, you can browse the tags dynamically: click a tag to instantly show the top 100 items with that tag as well as the 'related tags' ( tags that have appeared on at least one item alongside the tag being displayed). Clicking a related tag changes the display so that the links listed are those with both tags. This is a quick and powerful way to look for patterns Live embedded links-lists these are RSS-feeds for the most recent items with particular tags applied to them. They can be displayed easily within site content or as weblog sidebars. We can even show you how to embed these within a single piece of prose.

For examples of Tag Clouds see the following

EGCRF's del.icio.us bookmarks

These are all from the NGRF del.icio.us account, which is shared directly by several close colleagues at the IER. It is updated nightly from the for:egcrf tag in the NGRF delicious bookmarks.

NGRF's bookmarks at del.icio.us

Unlike the other project accounts, these have all been entered directly by a few closely-knit co-workers who trust each other with the same login details :o) It has become a hefty resource.

Vidensdatabase "Tag Cloud"

This is an experimental, smaller resource-base, for the Danish focus group in the EGCRF project. The focus group weblog "has its own" del.icio.us account, so all the members of the blog can indoirectly post the the del.icio.us account without needing access to any login details at all

Opendock Project Tag Cloud

This is not ready for public viewing yet, but is a serious resource in the making for a project using the Learning Design standard for sharing learning activities. It is updated nightly from particular tags in my own and Al Harris' bookmarking, and is already probably the best resource on the subject to be found anywhere.

www.mc-dip.net

Again, this is not ready for public viewing (scroll down for the tag cloud). It is updated nightly from Al Harris, my own, and Glenn Hardaker's bookmarking.

For examples of Live Resource Lists see the following:

See the UK Country Area in the EGCRF Project site for examples of live listing - within content - of links that have been given particular tags.

The main UK page 'pulls in' the most recent items from the whole egcrf del.icio.us account (remember - these will be coming from several other accounts - no-one actually logs in *as* cgcrf)). Most of the sections within the UK country area have their own live linkslists displaying items tagged with one particular tag which is related to the content of that section. See the links below for examples.

Gender

This area of the site is under development. The case for highlighting gender as an issue that continues to be pivotal in overcoming injustice is as strong as ever. Whilst men undoubtedly experience discrimination, it is women who continue to suffer most disadvantage on the basis of their gender.

Race and Ethnicity

This area of the site is under development, it is intended to be used in conjunction with the section on 'asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees' below. .

Asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees

This area of the site is under development, it is intended to be used in conjunction with the 'race and ethnicity' section above.

Disability

This section will grow into a brief overview of definitions, legislation, models, relevant statistics and barriers to employment faced by people with disabilities across Europe.

Age

This section of the site is under development. As more people choose or are compelled to work beyond what was once a statutory retirement age, there is growing interest in their guidance needs and entitlements.

Sexual orientation

This section of the site is currently under development... Discrimination against lesbians, gay men and bisexuals is increasingly acknowledged as a problem in the labour market.

Socio-Economic Context

This area of the site is under development. Socio-economic background has an acknowledged impact on career trajectories.