I am somewhat ambivalent about Diigo at this time. I appreciate some of the mark-up tools that it provides; however, I would like to be able to click on link to access the page with the markup instead of generating an address for the annotated copy. Even so, I found myself tickled by the ability to highlight and annotate an e-document as though it were a paper copy. The ability to archive pages and protect them from the vagaries of the internet is also a potentially potent advantage.

Diigo does seem to be a useful tool for organizing bookmarks. To that end, I found the list function to be convenient (because I am a compulsive organizer). I am often a little lazy and I tend to rely on browser bookmarks, but this system of organization is much more precise. It feels like a LibraryThing for web addresses.

I am not yet certain about the social aspects yet. Perhaps I simply need to find the right group. Or perhaps I am too much a digital immigrant to recognize its true social networking potential. Having organized a group, it feels a little chaotic. Posts accumulate like a blog, but without the centralized planning that characterizes a blog. Ideally, I'd like to create a topic within a group and post links to that topic, but perhaps this level of organization is unnecessary. I do like the idea of creating a Diigo account for a particular group with a focused interest. It could serve a support function to a larger agenda.

Here is the link to the Learning Through Gaming group:

http://groups.diigo.com/group/learningthroughgaming

Please post links to board games that you think are designed well and make learning fun. A good website to find information about games is boardgamegeek.com.

I created a folder called Yukio Mishima. Here is my link to my profile:

http://www.diigo.com/user/kirkengaard

The anniversary of Mishima's death is this week on November 25, so he has been on my mind recently. This assignment has led to two interesting discoveries: a blog (with a video of a new film based on Mishima's life) and an IMDB page that lists the films derived from Mishima's novels, plays, and short stories.

I have had a few hiccups. First, the highlights and sticky notes are not on the pages when I go back to them on a different computer (I use Firefox to annotate, and the second computer uses IE). However, when I use the annotated link on a second computer, both the highlights and the sticky notes are present. So, accessing the annotated pages on a second computer seems to require the second step of requesting the annotated link through the share command.

And second, concerning the New York Times article that I had saved, when I click on the link it takes me to a page that requires signing up for an account, even though I had found the article through a Google search and had not initially needed to log on. Signing up is free, however.

I can see how this site could be useful for organizing links through keywords and descriptions. I appreciate that the highlighting and sticky notes approximate some of the capabilities of paper copies while remaining digital. The option to archive pages (with an account upgrade) so that they are still accessible if the original pages go offline would have an appeal to people who require a little more permanency in their web collections.

This poem by T. S. Eliot is titled "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock":

http://diigo.com/0lbc6

The meaning of this poem has been heavily debated. I tend to see the narrator as a self-conscious, equivocating middle-aged man who is in search of a relationship. His internal struggle to push himself forward feels like an epic struggle; however, he is reminded again and again that he is no great figure, no hero. Prufrock is surrounded by possibilities, but he is inhibited by his lack of confidence.

The imagery of this poem is stark and startling. Especially vivid is Eliot's description of a sunset, which is far different than most romantic notions.