So what do I like about RSS feeds and aggregators?
Well, I find it helpful to have one place to look for updates instead of looking at multiple sites. I also found that some of the weekly updates I was getting via email can now be sent by feed instead. RSS fees are a great way to keep up with the mass of information available on the web.
How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your work or personal life?
Feeds in an aggregator will help with productivity in the long run: I'll waste less time visiting various websites to keep up to date and have less to deal with in my email in-box. I also like using the aggregator as a teaching tool. I am getting lots of data on books that I can use for my book club. Other libraries and librarians often post great suggestions that I'd like to try. Comparisons of software from other people save time in collating the information myself. For instance, I learned that LibraryThing will start charging once I enter more than 200 books. I've since switched to Shelfari. I can keep track on new posts from my co-workers blogs now without wasting time going from page to page. For comedic relief I have a feed of LOLCats and the "Frank and Ernest" daily cartoon (my favorite). For personal use, I get my daily devotion now sent as a feed. Using RSS feeds seem to help keep a person up to date with less time commitment. Of course, if you overdo it like I did at first, you will end up wasting time trying to keep up with all the information out there. You need to find a balance.
How can the Library use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
The library can use rss feeds various ways.
- Debbie and I were discussing the possibility of setting up subject oriented feeds for various classes.
- You could feed various blogs and updates to a feed for "What's new in the library."
- Having feeds from BookList, NoveList, Publisher's Weekly, etc. could help with collection development.
- Library faculty and staff can keep up with each other's blogs with this tool.
- You could set up a aggregator collecting feeds from the local libraries to keep our patrons current on the local library world.
- You could set up an aggregator of local news for patrons to access on our webpage (I think this one is someone else's idea that I like).
- The ideas are just limitless...
- It can provide another teaching tool for the teachers to provide up to date information in their field to the students.
- It can be used as a group project communication tool for students (set up separate blogs, and feed them together to keep up to date on all the participants ideas, comments, progress, etc.).
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6 comments:
I think you have a good point about the origination of ideas. Although I think that overall the internet makes plagiarism more catchable because a teacher can fact-check more readily.
True, but if you paraphrase, it's not as easy to check. Yet it still needs to be cited. Sigh.
great post! a couple of things:
you can use the "trends" feature on google reader to find out which of your feeds has not been updated in awhile and then use that information to weed inactive feeds.
if you're going to use your aggregator as your homepage, you might like netvibes, pageflakes, or igoogle.
i try to mark especially good feed entries in google reader using the "share" and "star" designations. i also tag these with keywords so i can always go back and search by tag. this might help with your point about keeping track of posts.
there are some serious criticisms of shelfari,too. see http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2007/11/shelfari-spam-basically-social.php. granted, it's coming from librarything, but still...
I checked out the trends tab. It pretty cool. There are a few feeds I have that may only post once a year, but I am fine with that (national book award, pulizter, etc.). I like the percentage of what I actually read. It helps a lot.
I checked out the various "web page" softwares, and made an igoogle page to try out. So far, I like the notebook and task list feature. That could help at work. Plus, no stray papers!
I already started using the star tab to designate things I want to look at later. I never thought to tag. That will help with sorting stuff by topic.
I read the article on Shelfari, and appreciate the input. Right now, I don't have gmail, so I don't have to worry about the mass address snatch. I'm still too cheap to switch back to using LibraryThing. 200 is way too small a limit for listing books. At least for me... :-)
yeah, and plus the shelfari widget looks really nice on your sidebar :) and it's possible that shelfari has learned its lesson and will be more ethical from now on!
Thanks. Look farther down at my book club list. I was able to add it in shelfari and make a widgit for it, too! The list format can be made longer than the shelf format. I hope you are right about the ethics. The only people who have asked to join my account were friends who asked me in person as well (so far).
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