I actually use Google Reader a reasonable amount already, although I only usually mess around with it to adjust settings.
What I use it for is as a handy way of keeping up with podcast subscriptions. I walk a lot, and take trains a lot, and like comedy and science news a lot, so having something that can keep track of my podcasts and let my phone download new ones when they become available (and of course when I'm on wifi) is priceless.
Of course what this does mean is that when I'm listening to podcasts I'm listening to people talk out of their RSS.
That joke was dreadful. And worth it. So worth it.
The problem I have with RSS, though, is the problem I have with listservs: it's one more thing to check and one more thing to read. Theoretically, an rss feed should mean that everything is in one place. In practice, it means that every week or so, back when I used Google Reader for something other than podcasts, I would log on and see 50 posts from Michael Stephens at tametheweb, 50 things from the Library Journal, 50 updates from Lori Reed... you get the idea. And I'd feel guilty because I didn't have time to read everything. And I'd mark them all read and close Google Reader.
This wouldn't happen if I opened it up every morning to see what had been posted during the night, but who in the world has time to do that? I'm naturally forgetful. I'm supposed to take a blood pressure pill every morning, and I forget probably 10% of the time. And that's for my health.
The problem with RSS feeds is that as useful as they are they can feel like a chore. I have friends I have known for decades who have blogs that I don't read. Not because their input isn't valuable, but because I'm a poorly structured person who can't keep up.
What's ironic about this is that I'm on Twitter constantly. I always have time to read 140 characters. I suppose this is because I have the attention span of a- ooh, shiny thing.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
12 things behind, but hoping to catch up
Hello,
Well, gosh, I think this is the fourth time I've done a "__ things" course. I was part of I think the very first one ever offered, when Helene Blowers was running them at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina. This was pre-Twitter. To be honest it was just about pre-Facebook. 2006, the wild and woolly days of web 2.0 where the height of sophistication was a Delicious account and Librarything.
It was fun, I learned a lot, applied nearly none of it, and got an mp3 player for participating. It had a capacity of 1 gigabyte, which was absolutely amazing for those days.
6 years later, and things have changed a lot less and a lot more than we think. Social media is smaller. It fits in pockets. We're more connected more of the time. There's a device in my shirt pocket that can download movies faster than my university broadband could back when I was getting my degree. And yet the NHS is still using IE7.
I want to be on top of the changes. I want health libraries to be the cutting edge. There's no MP3 player as a prize at the end of this, but just maybe there's something more valuable: a better way to do my job.
Well, gosh, I think this is the fourth time I've done a "__ things" course. I was part of I think the very first one ever offered, when Helene Blowers was running them at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina. This was pre-Twitter. To be honest it was just about pre-Facebook. 2006, the wild and woolly days of web 2.0 where the height of sophistication was a Delicious account and Librarything.
It was fun, I learned a lot, applied nearly none of it, and got an mp3 player for participating. It had a capacity of 1 gigabyte, which was absolutely amazing for those days.
6 years later, and things have changed a lot less and a lot more than we think. Social media is smaller. It fits in pockets. We're more connected more of the time. There's a device in my shirt pocket that can download movies faster than my university broadband could back when I was getting my degree. And yet the NHS is still using IE7.
I want to be on top of the changes. I want health libraries to be the cutting edge. There's no MP3 player as a prize at the end of this, but just maybe there's something more valuable: a better way to do my job.
"Who was that masked man with the datestamp?"
He moves in shadows like a thief, as insubstantial as smoke, as deadly as... erm, smoke. If your house is burning down. Yes.
All have heard his name, none have seen his face. Or know they have seen it, anyway. Maybe I should rephrase that.
They call him El Sombra de Biblioteca and aren't entirely sure whether that's the correct use of the Spanish or not. They did French at GCSE instead.
He stalks the libraries of the night. If you seek to do damage to a book, you may feel his flashing blade as it cuts you in the shape of the NLM classification WO 700. This is fairly fiddly and may take him several attempts. It would be easier if you stayed still.
And like that, he's gone...
All have heard his name, none have seen his face. Or know they have seen it, anyway. Maybe I should rephrase that.
They call him El Sombra de Biblioteca and aren't entirely sure whether that's the correct use of the Spanish or not. They did French at GCSE instead.
He stalks the libraries of the night. If you seek to do damage to a book, you may feel his flashing blade as it cuts you in the shape of the NLM classification WO 700. This is fairly fiddly and may take him several attempts. It would be easier if you stayed still.
And like that, he's gone...
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