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Thing #3: RSS

RSS feeds to me are Reminders that I am So Swamped by information from all sides!  My GoogleReader feed is posted on a lovely iGoogle page, to remind me to check it frequently.  Unfortunately, I don't use the iGoogle as a homepage, so I have to remember to go there, as well.  I am glad when I do, because it has great info, and fun feeds like a Word of the Day (of which I see about one a month) and a How-to of the Day (ditto), which is always useful!  Then I look at the Google Reader, and am horrified to see that I am SERIOUSLY behind in my reading!

But this time when I peeked at my backlog guiltily, I noticed that the posts are the same as the ones that I have read through Twitter and Facebook, as I tend to follow the same bloggers on all.  This prompted some swift housekeeping, and I trimmed the Google Reader subscriptions back to ones that don't appear elsewhere.  And explored some suggestions, some of which proved to be worth tasting for a while.  I think that adding iGoogle to Only2Clicks, which is my home page at home, might remind me to check it out more frequently.  

On another note, I am addicted to Delicious.  I started using it WAY back when it was clunky and new, and have kept feeding it my bookmarks that come to me through, you guessed it, Facebook and Twitter.  Now I see that I can have the websites I post on Facebook go directly to Delicious.  This could be problematic, as Facebook is more of a social tool for me, Delicious a professional tool.  Maybe I need another Facebook identity....

Now to post RSS widgets on my blog, library page, and to reexamine the feeds that I follow.  It will be like adjusting the faucets, and getting the best mixture of hot and cold, at the right stream.  So much for drowning under a flow of information!  

Comments

Amazing, I just posted similar feelings on my blog. Tons of information out there with tons of tools. Starting to figure out how I streamline information learning for the students making it a more worthwhile expiernece instead of an information landslide.
lot's o' work to do.
pollyalida said…
Love that analogy of adjusting the faucets!!

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