RSS S.O.S.

I can see how RSS feeds might benefit certain people – you know, the guy in the expensive tailored suit who doesn’t have time to sip his cappuccino, let alone check out his stocks or browse the latest world news. For him it might be extremely useful to have a system hand-pick and deliver that information directly to him, rather than having to take the time to look for it. But for me, Paul the Librarian, I just don’t spend enough time on the computer nor do I check particular websites regularly enough to make it worthwhile. But now, thanks to the beauty of RSS Feeds, I have a site jam-packed with oodles of new articles just waiting to be read. Whereas in the past I might have occasionally decided to check out the Salt Lake Tribune’s website or maybe Ain’t It Cool News (a movie and entertainment site), now I get the pleasure of being bombarded with updates even when I’m not interested in knowing what’s going on. Yippee (meant in the most sarcastic way possible.) But in all honesty, for the purpose of fulfilling the assignment I added feeds from several sites such as the Tribune, BBC World News, as well as Ain’t It Cool News. For the other feeds I simply added my co-workers’ blogs. That way I can stay current on their latest updates . . . that is, if I even pull up Google Reader now that this part of the assignment has been fulfilled. Right now I find it easier to still visit the individual blogs, but that might change in time. Besides, I can’t even begin to imagine the mess I have to look forward to the next time I login – all these zillions of new stories and updates just sitting there, silently waiting for me – “Read me, read me!!” The horror!!! On the bright side, at least I understand the concept behind RSS Feeds and feel fairly confident using Google Reader. Now I know. And as they say, “Knowing is half the battle.”