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DIIGO: At first I wasn't sure this was going to be cool, but then I changed my mind. Diigo is a way to do research online and create a virtual "web report" of content and links which you can use later to collect information and/or share with others. Imagine doing research on a topic like "HTML programming" and bookmarking each page of relevant information with highlighted portions that you can evaluate later. If you can imagine it, then Diigo is where you sould spend some time. I dig it, you might too.

It seems as though every day I discover new search engines, bookmarking tools other Web applications that are intended to simplify the cluttered and overwhelming task of conducting Internet research. But let’s face it, most of these resources sound great in theory, but prove less effective in practice. Yet once in awhile I come across a tool that is inviting, intuitive and actually does what its mission statement says it will. Diigo is this type of tool. 

The catchy, quintessentially Web 2.0 name reads like a word from some obscure foreign language, but is actually an acronym for “Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other Stuff.” Though many enter the world of Diigo in a social networking frame of mind, the networking aspect is the core of the tool and only scratches the surface of Diigo’s capabilities. For teachers, a useful feature is the “watchlist,” which enables you to know what’s going on across the network through specific tags, for example “education” tags. The social annotation feature is the best way to collect and share online information from anywhere, and you can write about that information with the blogging feature! The first characteristic I look for in any tool designed to enhance productivity is usability; will using this save me time and effort? Diigo passes the “usefulness test” with flying colors. Plus, it has all of the information that’s important to you and allows you to share it with others educators. Perhaps this is what the author of the blog I’m Not Actually a Geek meant when he said, “It has changed the scope of what it means to be social.”

Web 2.0 services are generating what is truly a personal learning renaissance.Here's a comment from teacher Elizabeth Davis at Classroom 2.0:"Following and reading blogs, participating in ning, contributing to wikis, writing in my blog, I haven't thought this much in years. It truly is an amazing phenomenon. I feel so intellectually alive. I'm inspired and challenged constantly. The blogs I read lead me to question and explore new tools and Websites. I haven't written this much since I was in school. It is all so exciting and energizing. For me, classroom 2.0 could just be about my own growth and learning and that would be enough."A good example of a free Web 2.0 service is Wikispaces. Here's a class wiki made with the service - A Broken World, the World War I wiki of a Grade 9 class. Their teacher comments:You are now "textbook writers." Your goal is to make a better, more interesting textbook than that overweight, boring, 20th Century history textbook you're now using. And to do work of such high quality that you can include it on your resume as another example of your academic skills in your "digital portfolio."Here are some other School 2.0 online services:* Diigo- for "social bookmarking" of Web sources.* Blogger - to create a class weblog.* Ning - to build your own social network]

Web 3.0…or is that 3D? Posted by edutrails on March 10th, 2007 I admit that I have been struggling to even wrap my brain around many of the new web apps out there that others seem to be raving about…blogs and wikis seem almost old school as learners move to Diigo and Second Life….mostly it’s a matter of time, but sometimes I am just overwhelmed by the ideas of other teachers with amazing creativity and vision. People like Jeff Utecht, Karl Fisch and Clay Burell blow me away (links to their blogs are to the left)…how they find the time to develop their own knowledge and share with others is beyond me…but probably the teacher that I am most in awe of is Vicki Davis…Vicki’s CoolCatTeacher blog is a veritable smorgasboard of practical applications and ideas, but also has a real mix of great vision.