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Diagram of a P(L)E

The following diagram is a schematic representation of the current state of my P(L)E for tagging and sharing links talked about in the article entitled: The sharing of links online. Below I have added a number of thoughts about this schema and what it implies.

1. This schematic representation privileges the technology and gives the false impression that a P(L)E is all about online tools and not so much about practices and ways of working. It does have the merit of making some things clearer, for example the position of FACEBOOK with respect to the DIIGO add-on (see below).

2. Activities and the related parts of the P(L)E can be usefully grouped into sub-activities: finding links; checking their interest; tagging and posting those links; annotating links; discussing links; reusing links; ... Note that the schema does not give information about how these activities are organised other than the configuration of online tools. It would be interesting to explore exactly what the nature of the practices are here and how they relate to the tools used and their configuration as part of a drive to better understand the meaning of practice in this context...

3. A tool like the DIIGO add-on for Firefox acts as a convenient dispatching method (amongst other things), minimising the need to re-enter data. Note the fact that Facebook is not served by the add-on and as such requires additional work to post links there. If I were working for DIIGO I'd add such a possibility.

4. Note that the LINKEDIN platform is absent from this diagram (even though I use it). The reason for this is that Linkedin is not made to post commented links. This is a shame, because a highly legitimate activity in a professional community is sharing knowledge.

5. I have not mentioned FRIENDFEED, even though I used to use it to echo on FACEBOOK activities carried out on DIIGO and TWITTER. One reason why I do not favour this system, despite its obvious interest, is that it leads to duplicated entries on Facebook. In addition, it publishes material indiscriminately. All that gets posted on DIIGO is mentioned via FRIENDFEED on FACEBOOK. This does not suit my way of working. I use DIIGO as a place to post links. I do not use FACEBOOK for that. Those people who post a large quantity of links on FACEBOOK can be irritating as far as my personal usage goes. In the complexity of the Net, imposing a certain order is helpful, like, for example, having a specific place for links. As a result I am careful about and limit the number of links I post on FACEBOOK. FRIENDFEED is an interesting idea: group together feeds from many other sources so that all can be found in one single place but in doing so and then allowing the relay of those feeds elsewhere it wipes out the specificity of the different sources it gets information from and in so doing contributes to confusion and noise.

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ISSN: 1664-834X Copyright © , Alan McCluskey, info@connected.org
Artwork & Novels: Secret Paths & PhotoBlog - LinkedIn: Portfolio - DIIGO: Links
Created: June 23rd, 2009 - Last up-dated: June 23rd, 2009