FEED me!

While I haven't used a dedicated RSS reader in the past, I have been using feeds for some time, through my Livejournal account. One of Livejournal's great strengths is the 'friends page' it offers, which basically lets you subscribe to other people's journals on livejournal, as well as to any external rss feeds you'd like. It's a great way for me to keep up with everything, all in one place.

That said, having now played around a bit with bloglines and Google Reader, I can see the benefits of that kind of dedicated reader. I like that I can see it all, no distractions, fully formed. Or I can limit it, to only show me headlines, or just from one feed. Whatever I like! Feeds are a fantastic thing for those of us who like to keep informed in all kinds of areas.

A lot of sites I already use regularly have RSS feeds (pretty much any blog will, I know), so it was pretty easy to find some to subscribe to. To continue themes I've already mentioned on this blog, these are the ones I sought out:

1. Stephen Fry's blog (Here)
   
2. Daily Kos (A US, left-leaning political blog) (Here)
   
3. Photos from Kythryne (Wyrding Studios photos) (Here)
   
4. PostSecret (Anonymous secrets sent out on postcards) (Here)
   
5. Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords (a father's blog of his journey with a wordless daughter) (Here)
   

Plus the Powerhouse Museum one. I did have some trouble finding the feed for that one - but I sought out the flickr feed, and added that, in the end, which seemed to make sense. I wish more sites made it more obvious, though I didn't have too many problems for the most part. I suppose a lot of sites do make money off advertising on the site, and feeds would circumvent it a little. Interesting thought.

We do have feeds listed for use by library staff, and on our website, but I just don't see it being used. I think it really depends on what you're looking at. If it's something you want to keep up with daily, yes, but you might also just get it by e-mail (where available). That said, not all of these sites have e-mail updates. So! I think it might be a little hard to train people into this, but I think it would be worth it for some things.

(I have now added feeds to the sidebar - ooh and ahh as appropriate, ladies and gentlemen.)

(PS: Thank you for all the comments on my sexy, sexy socks! I'll have to put some more up at some point).

Hello, world!

Despite being a member of ye olde Generation Y, and a pretty big user of technology, there are a few things around that I've always thought about trying out, but never managed. Some of them, it's because I use alternatives (ie instead of using flickr, I have my own gallery software installed on my personal domain), but for others, it's just not yet been something I've needed access to. I've decided to rectify this - and this Learning 2.0 programme is an excellent way to do it (especially because in doing it, I am able to help other co-workers, by providing helpful hints and feedback as we work through this together).

I was delighted to see Stephen Fry feature in the first week of this, as I'm a long time fan of his, and keep up to date with his blog, which focuses a lot on technology (and, in particular, gadgets. Did I mention that I like gadgets almost as much as I like socks?). I'd encourage anyone with this kind of interest to consider reading his blog... or keeping up to date with it through the RSS feed (hah! See, I just made an opening for a future part of this programme). The blog is here, and the RSS feed, for those inclined, is here.

I would be interested in using blogs in a library context, though most I've seen don't actually really capture the audience. We need something that keeps people coming back to read them; most people just want snippets of information, rather than discussions. But I'm sure there are ways to do it. More thought needed!