RSS feeds again

A hot summer afternoon, the perfect time to examine RSS feeds one last time -- no interruptions, no need to hurry home in the heat, a time to relax.

I've now explored syndic8, feedstar, and topix.net. I know about Technorati. I have a Bloglines account and a Google Reader account. All of these tools are easy to navigate. I see the potential for libraries, for professors, for the ordinary soul on the street.

And for the most part -- I don't need any of them. I feel deluged with information already. Some of these tools provide me with such trivial information about sports and entertainment that I feel almost insulted. There's more to life than much of this stuff, and if I do want to know this stuff, I can head to Krogers and read the National Enquirer headlines. Or read People. Or read the daily newspaper.

As for library feeds? Just not interested.

Right now, for the sake of experiment, I'm getting a substantial number of RSS feeds. Eventually I'll cut them back to a bare minimum of feeds.

This should not be taken as a criticism of any of these tools. They serve many good uses, and I'm certainly glad to know they are out there, and that if I need them personally I can use them. I do not mind showing a library user how to use one of them. The knowledge of these RSS feeds is highly worthwhile. The RSS feeds can be of great value for others who seek out information for their needs. I can also see that there are a select few feeds that are useful to me personally and professionally. I just don't need such a glut of information, especially a glut of shallow information. I've enjoyed the RSS ride, and now I'm getting off.

RSS feeds

Time for a few words on RSS feeds.

I already have an account on Bloglines, and check it nearly every day. It's pretty good. For comparison's sake, I set up a Google Account. It was pretty easy to do.

Both accounts include library feeds, but guess what. On Bloglines I rarely check it. I look at the feed from the NY Times on the arts, covering everything from Mozart to Tony Soprano. Wonderful reading. I wonder if I will do the same with Google Account.

Because -- much I love libraries and librarianship, I find that RSS feeds and many other Web 2.0 tools interest me personally, but again and again I draw a line in the sand with libraries. Perhaps I think of social networking as social, unrelated to the profession. Or maybe I can only think about libraries for so long, and then I have to stop. Enough already.

So this brief paragraph concerns the lesson on RSS feeds, lesson 1. I'm done.