RSS - Read Some Stuff!

Stephen Abrams manages (sometimes reading, sometimes not) over 500 blogs daily! And it doesn't take him all day? How is that possible? Is he super human? Does he not do anything else all day? NO! This is the beauty of RSS!

What is RSS? What is an aggregator?

Although I think my explanation for the acronym RSS, Read Some Stuff, is very appropriate, it isn't very technical! RSS has been explained as "Rich Site Summary" or even "RDF Site Summary", but most commonly as "Really Simple Syndication".

For once the Wikipedia definition of RRS didn't help me very much. A lot of it was quite over my head, discussing technical details, but, as always, the Creative Commons RSS in Plain English video was helpful. I also found the definition at WinDevelopment.com quite helpful.

RSS is an XML-based vocabulary for distributing Web content in opt-in feeds. Feeds allow the user to have new content delivered to a computer or mobile device as soon as it is published. An RSS aggregator or RSS reader allows the user to see summaries of all their feeds in one place. Instead of visiting multiple Web pages to check for new content, the user can look at the summaries and choose which sites to visit for the full versions.

I think that it is also important to discuss social news sites as well. Social news sites, like Reddit and Digg, are defined by Maki of DoshDot in her comprehensive Beginner's Guide to Social News Sites as "communities which allow its users to submit news stories, articles and media (video/pictures) and share them with other users or the general public. Some of these articles will be given more visibility, depending on various factors, such as the number of user votes for each of them". DoshDot also has an annotated list of over 50 social news sites (and a link to a page with over 300!).

My Exploration

I chose Google Reader for my aggregator as I seem to be drawn to "all things Google"... gmail, documents, scholar... and now reader. This made it more manageable for me because I didn't have to open yet another account.

I found Google Reader relatively easy to use. I effortlessly added all of my EDES 501 classmates blogs and, in some cases, changed the name of their blog in my list to contain their first names to help me keep track of everyone. I also added a few other blogs that had been recommended through our class discussions and readings. Over the past few weeks I have added a number more, as well. I also added a few that were for non-library things (i.e. Runner's World). I created folders to manage all of my blogs with ease as well.

An aspect that I really enjoy about aggregators is that I can skim the titles and decide if I am interested in reading the blog. (Not you, EDES 501s, I always read yours!)

A downside is that if I just read the text on Google Reader and not link to the blog itself, I can miss certain graphics, videos, and overall formatting (i.e. sidebars) of the blogs. I also cannot publish comments when I view the sites through my reader.

However, the management appeal and the time saved by using an aggregator is definitely worth it!

What's Next?

I am guilty of writing this in a prior blog and still not doing it, but I think I'd like to explore igoogle. My understanding is that my feed reader would be a part of my homepage and I think this may be another crutch that I need for data management. Or, at minimum, I need to change my settings so that Google Reader opens automatically when I open my browser. It has not become a habit to check with Reader daily, so sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed when I do check. (I suppose a third option would be to kick myself in the butt and make it a habit!)

Additionally, I would like to explore social news sites in greater detail and would be interested in learning if there were an educational news feed that I could also make a part of my daily on-line routine.

...off to read the latest headlines and maybe dive into a blog or two...