The amount of information that is at our fingertips is astounding. More so is the speed at which the information is expanding. RSS can go a long way in getting wanted information into the hands of users.
I went to Syndic8 to search and I thought I would see what happens when I type in the name of my favorite actor. Sure enough, I have an RSS feed now that gives me updates on the great Alan Rickman. Now that is a really nice feature!
For me, the first drawback is that some of the RSS feeds are rather overwhelming. The organized nature of Bloglines is wonderful.
The second drawback is simply in our choices. If people narrow their feeds to only what is of interest to them, there is a potential that it will limit learning.
2 comments:
You raise some really interesting issues about the potential of these tools to help us either broaden or narrow our perspective depending on the choices we make.
Just following people you agree with can be a problem in the RSS world, or even just on the Internet these days. There are two keys to avoiding this trap.
#1, follow people you agree with and admire but are also those that will challenge you and themselves when it comes to their views. These folks can be hard to find but they are out there.
#2, intentionally follow people you don't agree with. If you're a liberal, follow Bill O'Reiley. You're a conservative, follow Keith Olberman. These folks are easy to find but it'll take some discipline to keep it up.
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