Thing #6 - RSS/Google Reader II

Ok, still working with feeds here...still don't think it's gonna grow on me, but my mom always told me that if you are going to dislike someone or something, you must first find one good thing about it. I can see feeds being more helpful in straight up news site-type info. You wouldn't be missing any creative background or design and you could just skim and decide if it is anything you'd like to read--and you wouldn't be worried about hurting the news company's feelings. I'm not a big news fan, but some people are and it could be a help to them. It strikes me as sort of a klunky filter.


As to feeds affecting the way I search for information, I agree with Michelle--I don't think it will. I prefer a Google search as my primary resource. I tried doing a couple of searches in Google Reader on the types of subjects I would typically search. I discovered that what I don't want is someone's random opinions on a subject. I want real info. Years of research have led me to sites I know and trust on some general subjects, and I tend to start there.

For finding links, I found Technorati too "busy" in its design for my taste. However, I was able to successfully navigate it after a while. Google Reader was acceptable, but it gave me a terrible time when trying to look up and links on more than one subject. I had to use my Back button and then choose the option of returning to the discovery page. Then, you still had to use the tab from there to get to the search. I don't understand why there isn't just a "New Search" type button on the results page. Finally, I never could make one of those links you find on the websites themselves work. It seemed my sites either wanted to add themselves to the IE feed feature or Yahoo. I will ask for some assistance on this later and give an update.

I can think of a couple of ways that feeds could be useful to libraries:

• Being familiar with them will allow staff to answer questions and educate patrons
• Book and audiobook review sites could be useful for staff wishing to find items for a Readers' Advisory or for collection development--I added a couple of these from Library Journal to my feeds

I do like the book review feeds, and I think I will get use out of them. Still, my favorite feed is www.icanhascheezburger.com --I need my lolcats! [and it is, after all, work-related in that we should know a bit about what our young patrons are interested in--Sarah said so :)] At home, www.fark.com runs a close second, but it is too "R" rated for work computers.

For weirdest feeds, I had to go back and try a re-do from the earliest days of my web surfing. In 1995, one of my friends in the barracks had an AOL account that about 10 of us shared. The internet was much freer in those days, for better or worse :) We were exploring its capabilities and trying to find the weirdest things we could. I remember being amazed that there was a "Gum Disease" chat room. Who gets on there and chats about gum disease? Patients? Dentists? Weird. So, I looked again now, and, sure enough, there are blogs on gum disease. Some things don't change. I also think "Stuff on My Cat" is a very strange site, although now it seems to be attempting (and not achieving) a move in the lolcat direction. However, I think the weirdest feeds I found were blogs on Internet Addiction. Srsly, if you feel like you suffer from Internet Addiction, I think the last thing you need to be doing is adding blogs on it to your feed. Step away from the computer...