#8. RSS & Newsreaders. Learn about RSS feeds and set up my own Bloglines newsreader account.
I use iGoogle as my homepage, and Google Reader is readily available there with a click on a drop-down arrow. While subscribing to at least 5 newsfeeds, I discovered I could pick up RSS feeds of a "news flash" feature on my school district's Web site. I like have school news come to me that easily.
Our library supervisor took the time to have all the librarians in my district learn about Google Reader and subscribe to RSS feeds a couple years ago. She did it in preparation for our district starting to use School Center to make classroom or library Web pages, because we'd have the ability to set us an RSS feed from our own sites and she wanted us to know what they are. At that time, I found it a nuisance to sign into Google Reader, and I found there was too much worthless information coming to me through the RSS feeds, so I canceled the subscriptions.
When I started to use iGoogle about a year ago, I set up newsfeeds from major newspapers. I occasionally click on an interesting headline that I wouldn't otherwise have seen.
I've subscribed to the Unshelved library cartoon feed. There are some good cartoons about librarians using social networking groups to reach teens, and about appealing to teens in Library 2.0.
I set up an account in Bloglines.
I, too, have an iGoogle page. How did I ever manage without it? I find it scary that your librarians were introduced to this a couple of years ago. I feel like we're so far behind. I wanted to post to someone's page in hopes that you or someone would look at mine. If you make a blog that no one reads and responds to, it's almost like you're talking to yourself when no one is around.
ReplyDeleteJan