Del.icio.us.com

On the first afternoon of LIS 518, otherwise known as Reference, we were given a pop quiz of sorts. The questions were virtually all unanswerable for me, at least with my pre-LIS knowledge. One of the questions that sticks out in my head was "What is Delicious?". I think I made an attmempt at humor, guessing that it was an X-rated site of some kind. In reality, Delicious (or Del.icio.us, if you prefer) is a pretty incredible site, though in a different way than I had thought. Essentially, it is a bookmarking tool that allows users to take their "favorites" with them; the favorite sites are no longer attached to a single computer. Tags are a huge part of using this service; though not a defined vocabulary, users are encouraged to use similar tags so that they are able to connect interests and topics across accounts, ultimately sharing across a large network of individuals interested in like things. Browsing through new, popular, or specific tags is also an option once signed in. While I was exploring Del.icio.us I ended up browsing for quite awhile...much longer than I intended in fact. I discovered a fantastic site dedicated to wacky cupcake recipes, as well as a site created for roller-coaster devotees. This service could be incredibly helpful for research purposes, or within a library setting, as users could virtually search topics through other users. Del.icio.us brought to mind an article I read recently, related to homeless library patrons' desire to obtain information from actual people, versus institutions or databases. Del.icio.us is almost a sort of face-to-face/online network capable of great research feats.