RSS aggregators are an amazing feature for bringing the information of the world to you. Instead of going out and searching for new information, an RSS aggregator can bring you all of the information you desire on a routine basis. After creating an RSS aggregator through Google Reader, I began subscribing to my favorite websites. One of the best features I found with Google Reader was option to subscribe to “subscription bundles.” If you are a person interested in sports (like myself), Google Reader has a subscription bundle featuring updates from 8 different sports websites. It was absolutely AMAZING at how I could instantly see any and all new information that had recently been posted to these websites. Instead of individually searching each URL, the Google Reader instantly sent new information posted on ANY of these sites to me. Not only is it convenient, but it’s honestly pure genius. Tools like RSS aggregators are allowing people to fully envision the full power and real intent of the Internet. Information that I find essential is coming to me at a rate far faster than I can even keep up.
With that in mind, it brings up the only downside I’ve found to the RSS tools. For a person who may not be as tech savvy, the aggregators can be a bit overwhelming. I would suggest new users to only subscribe to a few URLs at first. When I first started, I instantly subscribed to 23 websites. Trust me, it was way too overwhelming. I simply couldn’t keep up with the information or manage to categorize it in any form. However, after getting rid of some of the subscriptions and only focusing on 10 sites, I learned how to manage the information and classify the URLS into categories. I now have my links in 4 categories (Technology, Sports, Fun, and Other). Now that I have a handle on how the aggregator works, I am efficiently receiving the latest information on all of my interests. I don’t know what I would do without it now.
Below are links to some of the most interesting bits of information I found:
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Edit_Wikipedia (A How-To on editing Wikipedia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU (Obama’s HISTORICAL acceptance speech)
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/11/twitter-survive.html (Internet Effects on the Election)
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3683034&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines (Why the BCS stinks!)
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1 comment:
Laura Ann,
I agree completely with you on RSS. This is an amazing way to get the latest information on topics that interest you. I found similar positive and negative things about RSS, but the positives outweigh the negatives. The one positive thing that I really enjoyed was the ability to get updated articles without spending time searching on the internet. I also subscribed to the sports websites and it is awesome!
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