After a couple of hours of subscribing to favorite feeds, your news grazing habits will be changed forever. Just as TiVo lets you watch TV more efficiently, RSS readers do the same by letting you scan your favorite blogs and news sites faster or letting you cast your net over a wider range of material. —J.D. Lasica —Surf’s Down as More Netizens Turn to RSS for Browsing (Online Journalism Review)
I’m only just starting to get into this habit, but I will probably try to use it to keep tabs on my student blogs next fall.
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I agree, Susan, and right now I enjoy “blogging” so much that I’m not sure I want to switch to “RSS browsing” completely. If I have students with blogs in three different classes, and I want to spend a little time each week just checking in with students who are blogging, then an RSS feed can make that process easier. But part of the pleasure of browsing through blogs is the serendipitous discovery, the unexpected inefficiency that helps me make a connection or that sparks me to respond.
Coincidentally, this thought has been in my mind the past few days. I notice that while it saves a tremendous amount of time by checking in on only those blogs that have been updated, (I use Bloglines)it also has a downside to the timesaving factors. I find that I’m not reading the posts all the way through, and so it almost feels like Adult Deficit Disorder (or whatever), and go to the site only if the first few lines intrigue me. This logically means that once everyone catches on, writing habits will change as well. We’ll incorporate the infamous “hook” needed in good writing.
Also find that unless there’s a post of particular interest that I’m following, I don’t see nor read the comments–sometimes (although not evidenced by this particular comment, I’m sure) the comments lead to a days-long discussion that just gets better and better — see 2 Blowhards entry on Ira Levin’s works, and the 44 or so additional comments.
There’s also not the touch of personal interest among circles of blogging friends.
Not sure I like the habits I’m falling into, and will most likely get into it a bit deeper and link to this post as well as the article by Lasica and others I may come upon. Thanks for getting the ball rolling.