RSS - acronym for Really Simple Syndication, which often related to feed and feed reader.
I didn't know that Google Reader is a RSS Reader, that can serve to collect all updates from my favourite blogs and news sites under one account. And please don't laugh, I didn't even know I can easily access this Google Reader under my Gmail account which I have used for more than a year. I guess this is so called the 'generation gap'.
I was a bit greedy. I went to visit most of the blogs posted on the blackboard for my Document Management tutorial, and I followed nearly all of them. Then, when I started to use this Google Reader, I was in shock. There are totally 51 blogs that I have subscribed too. Can I follow all of them and read all of the updated posts? No! I don't think I am able to do it. So, I am planning to filter them and only follow those interesting and informative one. Now, I understand what is 'information overload' and 'being selective in choosing quality information'.
Yeah, that horrible 51 blogs as shown on the left diagram from my Google reader.
But, one thing I like about Google Reader is, I can simply add any blogs or sites that I like by one simply click on the "Add a subscription" tab. That is convenient.
From the tutorial blackboard, it has suggested that alternative way of managing feeds is setup an account at either Netvibes, Blogster, or Bloglines to bring all feeds together. This is what I have discovered.
I didn't know that Google Reader is a RSS Reader, that can serve to collect all updates from my favourite blogs and news sites under one account. And please don't laugh, I didn't even know I can easily access this Google Reader under my Gmail account which I have used for more than a year. I guess this is so called the 'generation gap'.
I was a bit greedy. I went to visit most of the blogs posted on the blackboard for my Document Management tutorial, and I followed nearly all of them. Then, when I started to use this Google Reader, I was in shock. There are totally 51 blogs that I have subscribed too. Can I follow all of them and read all of the updated posts? No! I don't think I am able to do it. So, I am planning to filter them and only follow those interesting and informative one. Now, I understand what is 'information overload' and 'being selective in choosing quality information'.
Yeah, that horrible 51 blogs as shown on the left diagram from my Google reader.
But, one thing I like about Google Reader is, I can simply add any blogs or sites that I like by one simply click on the "Add a subscription" tab. That is convenient.
From the tutorial blackboard, it has suggested that alternative way of managing feeds is setup an account at either Netvibes, Blogster, or Bloglines to bring all feeds together. This is what I have discovered.
- Netvibes - Free registration. It is a personalised dashboard publishing platform for the web. It brings personal online information together under one account, including: newspapers, blogs, weather, email, search, videos, photos, social networks, podcasts, widgets, games and other funny applications. (I love this one actually, but need more time to dig in. At the moment, I just post it here and will come back to dig it in the future.)
- Blogster - It says in its 'About' page that it is an online community for people to share interests and activities. (huh??? Is it same as the Facebook kinda application?? Then, I don't need this.)
- Bloglines - It allows users to browse favourite web sites in one single page. It is a free online service for 'All-in-one' Blog, which including news feed search, online subscriptions, news reader, blog publishing and social sharing tools. (Wow!! I was stunt by its 'About' page. Is it really that amazing???!!!! Do I really need this complicated personal online web management application??? Yeah, while I was amazed by many functions that it offered, many questions popped up in my mind, e.g. do I really need this, is it time consuming, do I need to learn new applications to survive in 21st century information handling??)
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I also got a bit carried away when I opened my google reader account - I subscribed to 31 feeds and was completely overwhelmed when I found 603 items waiting to be read the next day...I guess a filtering process occurs over time as you determine which sources provide the information that is most relevant to your needs. KP
ReplyDeleteHi Kat: Yes, I agree with you totally. I have a total of 40+ librarian blogs on my bookmark list. I need time to go over each of them and be selective whom I am going to follow. The one that not updating their blogs regularly will definately be out.
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