SOURCING TIP: And Diigo was its name-O
One thing I have been ranting about (online and offline) is the need for a tool that will allow researchers to seemlessly share their intelligence. Imagine (as I often have) the time that would be saved if I were to discover a resume online and then see a note left by one of my co-workers that reads, “Been here, done that and submitted the candidate.” Wowzers! That would really cut-down on duplication of efforts wouldn’t it? I think so. This is why I have been seaching, suggesting and praying for a solution that would put a smile on my face. If you would allow me, let me give you the highlights of my journey.
Chatsum is a FREE add-on for your web browser that lets you chat with all the other Chatsum users that are looking at the same website as you. I blogged about it earlier this year and felt that it was close to what I wanted, but not quite what I want. At the time of my original blog post, Chatsum missed my needs in that Chatsum did not allow me to create my own personal network of Chatsum users nor leave notes for people in my personal Chatsum network. It also did not grant me the option to read either my comments, my network comments or everybody else.
When I was kicking the tires of Chatsum, I was still looking for alternatives. I stumbled across Goodnotes which looked interesting, but was in prototype mode then and (still is today). I never did play with Goodnotes, but it sure looked intriguing. What stopped me from realy diving in? I noticed on her website that the whole Goodnotes project was part of her final Masters thesis at NYU. Hmm… Does that mean no technical support if something goes wrong?
My next love affair for a free resarch tool came when Microsoft bought - Onfolio. Whoooaaaa nelly!! I really like this one as noted by my blog post from earlier this year. Alas, it would not allow me to leave sticky notes on websites for my co-workers (or anyone else) could see. Bummer… of course, when I want to keep all my research to myself, this is the best tool to use. However, if you are a Firefox junkie, you will gravitate (no doubt) to Zotero.
And then I noticed a couple of other web2.0 startups that gave me hope.
Seems simple enough to use; all you have to do is go to Tably and enter an URL or enter in the address bar of your bar something like this: http://tably.com/http://www.jimstroud.com. Entering that address will bring you to a page similar to what is shown below.
What I like about the site is that there was nothing to download, but… no WoW! At least I did not feel it. What if I were to visit a site and a note was (or was not) there? How would I know? Would I have to write out a tably address for each page I frequent? Maybe I am missing it somewhere? Somebody help me out.
I think Fleck does this a bit better with their offering if for no other reason, I really dig the Web2.0 ajaxiness of their site. Here is a screenshot of Fleck in action on my site. (I think they deserve an honorable mention.) The arrow is pointing to the slick toolbar that pops-up when using their tool.
Still, as ambitious as both of these sites are (Fleck and Tably), they can not dissuade me from my loyalty to Furl. (Read, “My name is Furl“)
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Okay, so let me show you something I really like and am recommending that research teams use - Diigo.
A few highlights from their website…
- The Best Web Annotation Service: Add highlights and sticky notes on any web page, anywhere, and access them anywhere.
- A Great Webpage Clipping Tool: Highlighted portions of any webpage are clipped and collected centrally, which can be shared and searched.
- An All-in-One Bookmarking Tool: Bookmark webpages to Diigo, local folder, del.icio.us , Simpy, Furl, Spurl… and make them permanently cached and full-text searchable.
- A Great Collaborative Platform: Share and interact on online findings, complete with highlights and sticky notes.
- The Most Customizable Search Tool: Like Google’s toolbar, but far more customizable, so you can access any search service with one-click — music, maps, references, local library, New York Times, …
- Unique Content Selection Menu: Interact with any word on a webpage just by selecting it, no click needed! - highlight, search, look up - whatever you you want!
With a virtual highlighter and digital sticky notes, now you can highlight & jot down your comments directly on any part of a webpage and scan through all your research findings quickly.
Keep your annotations private or share with others. Exchange viewpoints on any specific area of a webpage - great for collaboration or debating an issue.
Tags and full-text search on everything make it extremely easy to organize and find stuff - no need to fumble with folders and subfolders. You control the privacy setting on what can be seen by public or kept private.
Need someone to pay special attention to a particular section of a webpage? You can forward a webpage with your highlights & Sticky notes. For further interactions, your friends can append their comments under your notes right on the page.
Discover relevant / new content based on specific users, topics of interest, recommendations, hot lists, and more. For example, to discover high quality contents on some subject, check out bookmarks under specific tags - remember these represent the joint effort of lots of people.
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Now here is something that I think is a killer feature! I download the Diigo toolbar and when I come to a page that has been annotated, I am notified (see arrow). I can set this to show me only the notes I have left behind or, the public notes of others. And get this, once I set up my free web-based account, I share that info (my log-in) with my co-workers and all of the annotations we mark private are only seen by us. (Wink)
-Jim
Have time for a quickie? I just want to know you better via a short survey.
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