Curate or bookmark? How will you organize your information?

There are various resources out there for organizing information. The two that I'm looking at are Diigo and Scoop.it!.

Diigo is an alternative to the traditional bookmark bar that inhabits the top of your browser window if not blocked. Diigo's appeal is in the fact that you can add multiple tags to organize the pages that you like and that you can access your saved material on any computer with an internet connection. You can group the sites under named lists as well. It also allows you to add comments for yourself and followers about the webpages, and in return, you can see the same on the peoples pages that you follow and add comments to their links. Another great feature is the ability to leave sticky notes or highlight on the webpage itself. If there is a certain feature you would like to keep in mind or a feature that you would like to avoid, you can make a sticky note that will pop up when you go to those sites and on your home page where the links are saved. Same with the highlight feature. The highlight feature comes with a few different colors, so hopefully you'll be able to highlight what you would like despite the word/background color. My favorite feature is that of the chrome extension. It adds onto your toolbar and it only takes one click to save the website and add descriptions/tags. It is super convenient to use when the extension is enabled. Like everything, there are some downsides. There are no suggestions for sites based on interest, so it's based purely on the sites that you go to. You can look at the sites that friends have saved, so it's an alternate to suggestions.

Scoop.it! is a different way to organize information via "curation". While not tag specific, it is organized under a group heading (My curated topics). You then "scoop" websites that you want to add to the groups that you have made. It allows you to connect up with your social media sites (facebook, twitter, linked in) so you can share your "scoops" with the followers on there. The nice feature that scoop.it! has to offer is it's suggested pages area. Once you "curate" a topic, it will offer suggestions to add to it. The topics I started offered up about 100 suggestions each. You can also just add websites that of an interest that you find as well. Again, everything has downsides. The button that exists to quick add is not an extension, so unfortunately you have to have your whole bookmark bar visible to use the Scoop.it! add button. It's more of an annoyance that a true issue, so if you are a person that doesn't mind having their bookmarks visible, then the button is fine for you. You also can't comment on the links that others have posted, but you can "thank" them for it and share the item, commenting that way. There are no tools to highlight or mark notes to yourself about the sites that you "scoop" other than the initial comments that you put about the site.

If I had to choose between the various sites, I would go with Diigo. While it isn't super flashy, it has a really easy user interface. It's extension button makes it just as easy to save a site as the traditional bookmarking star does, and you can access the information anywhere. The post it and highlight features are also a nice touch. I don't mind that sites aren't suggested because I usually get annoyed when a website keeps suggesting things that I should like. I can do the Google search on my own. While Scoop.it! does off the curated groups, I can achieve the same effect with the lists. The multiple tag option that Diigo offers, and the breakdown of said tabs, is a option that I don't get with Scoop.it!. I will definitely continue to Diigo for it's user friendly and innovative features.