This week we explored using RSS aggregators and I have mixed feelings about them. While I can see that if you are very selective about the sites that you chose to get feeds from they may be useful, I can also see how they could be a big time waster. As far as ones that may be useful for work, possibly ones, such as New York Times book review, to help to keep up to date on what's being released and when. This may assist with ordering new stock and informing patrons about books that may interest them. Other interesting RSS feeds are the dictionary ones, great for improving vocabulary...would be good to suggest for high school students too. Or if you know someone is especially interested in a specific topic, you could suggest that they have certain sites feed to them.
But, actually, I think that it would be just as easy just to visit those sites that you find useful on a regular basis...instead of almost being bombarded with info that you may not have the time or energy to sift through. And although it's always good to know what's out there...and how to use the technology..I have to admit that I'm finding it tricky to keep up with all my passwords and to know what site is for what.
1 comment:
I really like rss feeds. I have over 300 rss feeds I follow - mostly through skimming. I restrict my rss feed reading to 20 minutes every few days. This means I miss a lot (and I delete a lot without skimming or reading), but thanks to rss feeds I am still much better informed than I would be otherwise, and the aggregator saves me a lot of time visiting sites to see if there has been an update.
The passwords can be a challenge - two passwords will get you into a lot, but I think you end up with five or six.
Ellen
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