Tag Archives: tagging

how do I find …?

Whenever I start talking about something like Twitter, or the networking feature of the social bookmarking tool, Delicious, with people who have yet to venture into online communities, one of the first mental roadblocks they seem to encounter is the following question:

“But how in the world do you find people?”

Often, the unspoken conclusion to that sentence is … among “all that awful stuff out there” — the lurkers, those baddies who are out to get us all. My experience has been quite different; I’ve found so many resources and ideas, mostly through asynchronous connections, that have really enriched my professional life far beyond the geographic confines of our small campus.

So, in an effort to document how it is that I have been finding my way, I’ve started a few new tags in my delicious account, and I’m trying to remember to hit one of them every time I’m off meandering and one wonderful thing is leading to another.

I take it for granted that what I call “meandering” — and think of as a very productive process — actually does involve (and rely on) some other skills and habits. What are these, exactly? Not sure, and that’s why I’m embarking on this little project. Here are the links, in case anyone wants to meander along, or join right in:

how-do-I-find (collection of links on delicious)

one-thing-leads-to-another (already seeing some duplicates … see final comment, below)

Come to think of it, this one might turn out to be related as well:

informal-learning

As with all of my tags, I make them up on the fly, as I go along. Some are used once, and then left to obscurity. Others become “sticky,” gaining momentum and becoming a regular and integral part of my emerging system. I suppose that might drive some people crazy.

I like it.

It allows me to DO, rather than have a great idea, make big plans and then end up not having the time to follow through. Big win, in my books.