#4

As one may surmise from reading my previous entries here, I'm not much of an internet hound.  With that in mind, figuring out what exactly RSS (Really Simple Syndication -- a surprisingly straightforward name and acronym) feeds are was somewhat of a daunting task.  Sure, I've seen the little three curved-line, rectangular orange symbol on various and sundry sites, and heard grad-school friends/pros mention catching up on their RSS feeds all morning, but did not really understand how it works or its purpose until a few weeks ago (I should tag this "delayed blog post").

So, I did what any non-RSSer would do, and ran a Google search for "RSS" -- which, unsurprisingly listed Google Reader as the first recommended RSS site...which I, also unsurprisingly, enlisted as my inaugural RSS feed.  Dubious as to what this would result in, I actually have found it to be fairly useful, although not to the extent (yet) that so many others have.  I elected to subscribe to the website Columbus Underground and a friend's Live Journal blog entitled Watch Out For Snakes.  Columbus Underground is a great "here's what's going on in the city that you may or may not already be aware of and would possibly like to do" resource -- it digs a little bit deeper than the local newsweekly and discusses indie rock shows that may have fallen under the radar, among other cool, "alternative" endeavors.  My friend's blog is something I've seen him link to via his Facebook page and thought I'd check out -- his writing is witty and subversive, and he can elaborate hilariously on some of the most mundane activities (his most recent post detailed his being bumped into by three different individuals in a four-block walking span).

Using RSS for both of these sites (along with the three other blogs on Blogger that I commenced following when I began this project, AND which automatically linked into my Reader feed thanks to the incestuous nature of Google...not to mention the internet at large) has proven very handy; it's a concise way for me to keep up with the sites I want to all in one location.  Although my wife is a blog enthusiast, she is someone who I believe does not do any kind of RSS feed to keep track of their updates.  I know she spends a considerable amount of time going from blog to blog, quickly moving on to the next one should the current one not have new content for her to explore.  I'm sure an RSS feed would be useful to her, but I also know that going from one blog to another is part of the appeal -- it's a passive and pleasurable way to spend some down time, and a few seconds here or there don't make much of a difference to her.  For myself, I may have only used RSS marginally thus far, but I certainly do see its value, and more than likely will continue to utilize it as I tune in to more and more library resources while progressing through my studies.