Back in 2006, I started an online bookmarking site. The original idea was to offer a searchable directory of Internet resources to those who were using our textbook. So, resources were tagged by chapter but also using other descriptors.
I also wanted to make this site “social” or “participatory”. Users could add their own bookmarks. Use of the site also changed which bookmarks appeared at the top of search lists. The priority system was based on a combination of links followed and user ratings.
As systems such as this grow, maintenance is necessary. With more than 1000 records and the passage of time, certain links no longer functioned and there was no easy way to identify these links. The “rating” system was intended to take care of this problem. Poor quality resources or resources that were no longer available should be rated poorly and should sink down the list. Even if I did not make use of the ratings to remove links, this system should have buried links that were not useful.
My “concept” ran into two challenges. An open system may have encouraged users to add links and to add ratings, but it also encouraged the addition of far too many inappropriate links. I had to add a registration system. The registration system pretty much eliminated the inappropriate content, but also severely limited the addition of links and ratings.
The slow evolution of the site also created a problem with the other mechanism of prioritizing links. A substantial correlation developed between the length of time a resource was available and the number of times the link was used. So, older links tended to appear at the top of most searches. This created a secondary problem in that the links at the top of the output were more likely to be used. Over time, it became more and more difficulty to find new “quality” links.
I spent some time this summer modifying the raw link frequency data to address this problem. I hated to discard the “real data” but it became clear that this has to be done to improve the usefulness of the system. Just for the record, the most used link was followed 457 times.
So, I encourage you to give the site a look. Again, the focus is on Internet resources appropriate to education. Registration is not necessary to conduct searches (key work or tag). The site is a bit deceptive at first glance and a the tag list is a good place to start. If you have a little more time, I encourage you to register and contribute your own favorite links and rate the results of links I provide. These practices make the greatest contribution to the development of the site.