Delicious

Delicious is a tool designed to allow users to bookmark websites and utilise tagging for easy location later on. These tagged bookmarks then can be kept private for the user’s own benefit or made public for all Delicious users. In addition it means bookmarks are no longer tied to the browser/pc they were created on. A Delicious account can be accessed anytime and anywhere a user can access an internet connection.

Whilst users create a list of their own favourite bookmarks, they can also create networks of people. Networks mean that a user can elect to view a list of the latest bookmarks created by their network, all in one place. Similarly, subscriptions allow a user to follow a tag. This then means a user can see the latest bookmarks shared on Delicious which have all been tagged in the same way. Users can also utilise ‘bundling’ whereby tags which are related can be grouped together in a bundle for ease of viewing.

The main downside of users being able to create their own tags is the lack of control over terminology which has many implications. It can create duplication of bookmarks for a website which has been given multiple different tags. This also makes grouping of like bookmarks difficult if their tagging is not alike. Further what a tag means to one user may mean something else to another user especially across cultural and racial borders as Delicious is a tool open to the whole world. To overcome this issue Delicious also allows a user to create ‘tag descriptions’ so that others can see what was meant by the tag applied to a bookmark.

For information organisations Delicious supplies the opportunity to create a common space for staff to access and save bookmarks relevant to their day-to-day work and also for activities such as professional development. Delicious also provides a way for information organisations to create lists of relevant bookmarks, for example subject related, which users can use to fulfil their information needs without the need for them to have to physically visit the organisation.  By utilising the hashtag feature on Delicious, the organisation can also allow users to contribute their own bookmarks to the established lists thus creating a collaborative environment with its users.