Information Fluency and Diigo

21^st Century Information Fluency:

Even though we are into our second week of class, every time I read an article or listen to a podcast on a topic, it just makes me feel even more confident in getting my students to use the databases that schools provide for them to use.  In library school, Boolean searching is one of the things that I remember learning about and using certain words to ensure you get the results you want from your search.  I was surprised to learn that using the word “or” in a Boolean search can give you different results depending on what search engine you are using.  However, using the same word in a database is more likely to give you the results you are looking for.  I found it interesting to hear Chris Sherman tell us to trust the search engines if you aren’t an expert searcher.  After learning about Filter Bubbles last week, every time I use Google or Yahoo to search for something, I feel a little more skeptical than I did before in terms of whether I am getting all the information that I am looking for.  If Boolean searching is treated differently depending on the search engine, again I would feel skeptical using the search engines all the time.  Again, I feel much more confident encouraging my students to use the databases that the school provides for them to use.

Diigo:

While I have heard of social bookmarking before, I haven’t heard of Diigo until now.  I really found it interesting to read about what Diigo is and the different features that it has, along with ways that students can benefit from using it.  As of right now, I haven’t found anything negative about using Diigo with students.  I think that the biggest positive is that it can help students keep their information for a project organized and in one place.  Students are always forgetting something they need for a project, loosing things they had wanted to use for their project, and if they are working in a group with someone, they have to wait until they see their partner again before they can talk about the project with them.  With Diigo, they can keep all of their information in one place online where they can access it from anywhere, anytime.  They also have the feature to collaborate and share their information with their partners without actually having to be in the same room with them.  While they have the ability to communicate with other resources as well, Diigo may be a little more secure and controlled than other ways.  I am really looking forward to using Diigo with my students.