Pageflakes is a site which allows you to create a personalized web page based on a compilation of widgets that are aggregated together. These widgets can be used in all sorts of ways such as RSS feeds, web page inserts which allow a mini browser strait on the page, key blog posts or simply a sticky pad! My page flake includes all of my accumulated research such as my annotated bibliography which was created with the help of two other awesome tools (zotero and citeline). Although My page flake encompasses my Diigo soul mate, my bookmarks and an array of useful widgets it is easy to navigate as each category contains a subheading directly above!
Active Searches introduced a whole new medium of web based research for me. My page flake also includes two useful widgets labeled “universal news search,” which is preloaded to genocide and the “universal blog search” pre-set to world leaders. These two flakes can be considered the most useful tools because they are update fresh events to my research pool. The tools provided access to peer related blogs which brought a different light to the research compared to books or scholarly articles. For example using the universal Blog search flake I was able to find an article on "Islam and the West: lines of demarcation", a blog post discussing the different cultural settings of the Middle East ideology. Ideas such as radicalized Islam and war crimes in Darfur stemmed into a plethora of valuable substance for my research. I do see these two little tools adding brilliant material to my research which I would have never been introduced to otherwise!
When web based research tends to get overwhelming the solution is RSS feeds. My page includes multiple RSS feeds, which can be located on the lower left hand column. I found these flakes to be very helpful as multitudes of information is “transmitted” back to one “headquarters," or page. The RSS feeds I incorporated such as AP political news, Obama HQ, and CNN world news all eliminate the multiple tabs open on my browser. Under the RSS subheading I included an assortment from my blog roll, most notably Caterwauld and Coyote discussing genocide on BlogSpot. This is my favorite part of the page because news is constantly refreshing. If the page lacked RSS feeds I might have missed the world protests to Sudan’s President touring Darfur after his arrest warrant by the international tribunal.
Since web based research seems to be a black hole of never-ending websites it is vital to keep access to those that add depth to your research! One interesting website I linked on my page is “This American life,” which is an organization which produces weekly podcast discussing the state of American politics. I included a web flake to the United Human Rights page because what happens amongst a country is not always transparent. Through this website I was able to get more information on Pol Pot and Talaat Pasha, two powerful leaders which committed the ultimate crime against humanity and acted as “genocidaire.” I often related back to the United Human Rights page which aims for genocide prevention across the globe by documenting the events vividly. These sites offer a backdrop for my research and draw a more comprehensive understanding of why leaders act the way they do.
If you take a look at the right column of my page flake you see a web page link to my annotated bibliography. The formation of my bibliography was done with the help two tools I recommend for any individual doing research, Zotero and Citeline. Underneath the annotated bibliography a viewer will find two Fun flakes to add character to my research. In that section include a World clock flake to track the time in countries around the world as genocide news surfaces. I also added a sticky note tablet as well so the viewers of my page cast are able to write useful notes on my page. What is really cool about this sticky pad is that if the viewer is also a member of pageflakes they can drag the sticky tab onto their page with all of their notes still intact. Very cool feature if you’re surfing for depth to your research through other pageflakes on your topic!
Last but not least my page includes a dedicated section for the individual who shares the same bookmarks and interests, my diigo soul mate. This tribute portion of the page includes an RSS feed to her bookmark page as well as a web flake linked to the blog post on my soul mate. My blog is also displayed in the page flake beneath the soul mate section as a reference for viewers that are interested in the topics I have open for discussion. This will allow readers to follow my blog and hopefully include it in their own research!
Research can often seem overwhelming and difficult to manage. With sites such as pageflakes a user is able to reduce expected complications in the research process significantly. Web sources are not the best substance for research papers however the web does offer an enormous foundation of information. When using Pageflakes it is like looking at the thirty different content sources conglomerated into one making the process a lot of fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment