The web can be a pretty overwhelming place to search for information that you want. Websites and blogs are being updated all the time, and we aren't always aware of when this is happening, causing the possibility of missing out on new interesting information. RSS reader creates a solution to this problem. Through RSS reader, you can subscribe to different websites and blogs, and you are informed when new information has been added or a new post has been put up. It serves as a simple browsing tool that you can organize all of your most viewed and favorite sites and blogs in. This way, you can simply scroll to the site or blog you wish to see and click, and there it is for your viewing pleasure.
RSS reader is especially beneficial in the classroom. In the case of Blogging as we did in CEP416, you can make a folder of your class blogs and have easy access to them whenever you want to read them. This way, you don't have to waste time looking up the blog site, type it in, and then see if it has been updated. With RSS reader, the site is already stored and just a click away. Instead, you simply have to dedicate about five minutes to add all of your classmate's blogs into your reader. In the classroom, RSS reader can also help save and organize sites for different projects and reports a student might be doing. A student can group a list of sites together in a folder for a particular report and be able to refer back to them whenever they need to.
The only disadvantage to RSS reader has to do with Blogging, and it is the fact that not all of the posts are going to be of interest to you. You might be interested in the general idea of the Blog, but not every post is going to be something you want to read. Still there is a upside to this. Even though not all new posts will be what you are looking for in the Blog, an updated post could strike up a new source of interest and convince you to search for other Blogs that might relate more in detail to that topic.
RSS readers will ultimately make the web less overwhelming and because it will seem so much easier and less stressful, you may even find yourself doing more online reading than you did before.
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3 comments:
I totally agree about about using the feed in your classroom one day. I only hope we're in schools that have money for computers :) I also agree with you when you say that the feeds are slightly overwhelming...I'm hoping I can organize mine a little better so that I can use it more often-
I agree with you about using the feed in the classroom. I feel that it would be very beneficial to connect everyone through an RSS reader. I also agree that the one disadvantage is getting blogs you may not be interested in. It seems like it would be annoying to have to see all the ones you don't want to read.
You mentioned using folders with Google Reader and I agree that this is a great function. It enables us to sort our feeds into different categories based on personal, work, school, etc. This way if we have many different feeds we only have to look into the folder that contains the feed we are looking for. It keeps things organized and convenient to use as finding various feeds is faster when categorized!
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