Lijit and connected learning

AJ pointed me at Ligit - it's a socially enhanced search engine. I've installed it on my blog, hanging around there on the left. When you sign up it asks you for your blog address, and then what name you commonly use for accounts and then searches for these, e.g. delicious, digg, flickr, twitter, etc. You can remove any, and edit it you have a different account name.

This part made me realise I'm not as connected as I should be - to my shame I hardly use delicious (just a habit thing), don't use digg at all, have a very old Flickr account, etc. The other data it uses for the search is your blog roll. I think this is quite interesting, you create a kind of network around you, and by implication you are saying these are people you trust.

Following on from my earlier post about a modern learning experience, one could see how a Ligit type tool would facilitate this. I may not be a good example (I really must update that blog roll), but take Stephen Downes for example, a Ligit search from him might find both content and people who would be useful. Not sure whether this application will actually work, but in theory you can see its potential for learning.

Comments

[AJ Cann]

Let us know how it works out Martin, I just haven't got round to installing it yet.
I use delicious frequently, several times a day, partly for it's bookmarking function but recently to generate tagged RSS feeds which I can mash up in various ways. I use Flickr all the time (http://flickr.com/photos/ajc1/). I've given up on digg, but I have been using StumbleUpon a lot recently - when I get bored.

[Tara Anderson]

Martin, thanks for trying us out and posting about us. Lijit proves to be a valuable learning experience because you have the ability to search an expert's body of online knowledge and connections. But one of the coolest things we offer are detailed stats that help you to better understand your audience and what they are searching you about. If you should have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact us.

[Martin]

I really must get in to the habit of delicious more - Tony Hirst uses it as you describe as it seems very powerful.
The one site I thought was noticeable by its absence from their default list (although you can add any site in), was slideshare, which I use frequently.
And it can't access a lot of the activity on Facebook of course.
It shows though how each of us constructs these networks of tools and people online, which is Ligit is really trying to capitalise on.
Martub