Week 3, Thing 8, Make Life Really Simple with RSS and a News Reader

Hi!

Here is the URL to my public Bloglines account:

http://www.bloglines.com/public/lizsnewthings

What did I think about RSS? I think if you do indeed find you need to check multiple news sources etc., then it is an excellent tool and should save a lot of time and angst. Beware of being sucked in by it and finding a need where there was not one before! I do know from conversations I have had and things that I have read that checking these news feeds can become addictive and eat up your time, even with Bloglines, etc.

Used judiciously, feed readers could help you be very selective about what you view. I note, for instance, that Library Journal has different feeds for different topics in the Journal (though some overlap).

RSS might save me from having to check multiple e-mails about book news, etc. I will have to test it and see! Having stuff e-mailed to one might be just as convenient. Ironically, I have already signed up for several things I don't get e-mailed and have been ignoring with little or no consequence for 2 years at least! So already with RSS I have one more place to click (refer to para 1)!

It would be nice if our new books on order list on ReadersPlace could have and RSS feed link on it so people could have it sent to their computers when it was updated. I am now also updating the Recommended Booklists page at least once a week, so it might be nice if an alert went out when new booklists appeared there.

Some tips for people coming after me with the discovery exercises:
1. The screens in Blogline.com now appear slightly different from how they are shown in the tutorial. Do not worry, it is soon easy to see what to do.
2. Adding feeds is easy; however, not all sites call the feed link the same thing. It is not always easy to see where to click - persevere and look round the whole screen.
3. When viewing a public Bloglines account, one can see and copy if you wish the Blogroll of the person whose account it is. This is extremely easy - you click on the feed you want in the roll and another Bloglines window in your own account opens up and you follow the instructions to add. It's just a couple of clicks, no cutting and pasting.