Intute: The New Best of the Web
Launched July 2006, discontinued July 2011.
"Intute, as the new best of the Web service, has been created in response to users' needs and the changing Internet information environment. It is a free national service enabling lecturers, researchers and students to discover and access quality Internet resources. Intute exists to advance education and research by promoting the most intelligent use of the Internet.
Intute works through evaluation and collaboration. It has massive potential to deliver a service on a national level which responds to those fundamental principles of librarians and information professionals, namely trust, quality, and ease of use and user empowerment in the ever-changing and complex world of education.
Intute is hosted by MIMAS at The University of Manchester, and is a collaboration among a whole host of partners and contributors. At the heart of the organisation is a consortium of seven universities, bringing together a wealth of expertise and knowledge. Intute is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), with support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)."
(Caroline Williams, 2006)
Williams, C. (2006). "Intute: The New Best of the Web." Ariadne July 2006(48).
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Retaggr: sharing your portable online profile across social networks
"retaggr [was before it closed] a widget-based service that enables active web users to link all their various site-based profiles into a single, always updated, interactive business card that can be attached to virtually any type of content or interaction the user has on the web.
The interactive profile card can be linked to or embedded anywhere online, including in email signatures, blog entries, other text, or as part of online profiles on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, twitter, and others. It lets you leave a summary of the way you define yourself on the web anywhere you want to share it."
(Retaggr, CrunchBase Profile)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Ofamind: online service that stores your interests and research
"Ofamind is an online service that stores your interests and research. Ofamind is unique in that it integrates with your browser to make it remarkably easy to record interesting information to your Ofamind 'views', or storage areas at the Ofamind website. You can also upload presentations to Ofamind for viewing by colleagues, including slides integrated with audio. Ofamind is partly funded by the National Science Foundation."
(Ofamind, 2007)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Demise of first generation meme tracker 'Popdex'
"Popdex was initially created and developed as a website popularity index. As such, many people, bloggers especially, linked in to Popdex in order to increase their popularity. A site would receive its popularity ranking based on the number of visitors and pings it sent to Popdex through the link on its site. In fact, you may have arrived at this article as a result of one of those links! If so, we welcome you!
Popdex also used to be a place to get the latest news or post an online gamer's profile. Within the profile, many gamers would leave tips, strategies and cheats for their favorite online games.
Times have changed since those days and now Popdex has entered a new phase of web development. The site is hanging in the balance between what it once was, a website popularity index; what it now is, a collection of informational articles on a variety of subjects and what it will become, yet unknown.
Take some time to browse around the site. You may find some wisdom here. Give yourself a moment to think and to imagine what you would like to see the Popdex website become. How would you develop this website if you were given the title of Podex web developer? Then, send us a message and tell us about it. If we like your idea, you could be featured on the front page of the new Popdex as a premier web idea developer!"
(Popdex admin)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Ficlets: collaborative fiction site closes
"ficlets is no more. AOL decided to kill the product, but thankfully, since all the content on the site was licensed under Creative Commons, I decided that there's no reason to let the content die. So, consider this the ficlets memorial.
...
I appreciate the opportunity that AOL gave me to build and launch ficlets with my friends. ... I'm just glad the forty-five thousand (plus) stories that people wrote over the eighteen months that ficlets was around will be around a while longer and may still become the source of some joy in the world."
(Kevin Lawver, January 16, 2009)
[non-commercial AOL community website]
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
