U 2, Can Digg It

Digg.com is a social news site. The site is 100% powered by users. Users 'digg' stories and videos that they come across on their favorite sites and upload them to Digg.com. You can find out a ton of information that you would never come across on CNN or Fox News or any traditional news site for that matter.

Here is how it could help you for research and projects in my course.

1. The articles on digg are current, dated, and posted by users. Unlike Google searches which most of you do for research, you will get news that is up to date on Digg and chosen by readers like yourself.

2. You can form groups and have friends in Digg. So if you know some people from our course, which you can meet by joining Odyssey of the Mind, then you can share stories you find. For example, lets say you are working on a unit on Civil Rights and there are 4 parts to the unit. If you worked with a friend using Digg, one person could do the Internet research for one part, shoot it up to Digg and then your friend can read what you posted. Another group member could do the research for Part 2 and shoot up the best info to Digg. Pretty soon you can all see each others stories and your research is done.

3. You can search videos, podcasts and blogs in a basic Digg search. These are three Web 2.0 tools that I want you to get familiar with and use to complete assignments for in this course.

4. Its more fun than traditional research!

Note: As with any research, you must be careful what you quote in your assignments so use opinions and facts cautiously.