blogland and rss feeds

I am a regular reader of quite a few library-related blogs, as well as some non-library blogs. I link to a bunch of them on the right. I find that reading the blogs is a great way to keep up with what's happening in the library world and technology, and I've learned so much that I never would have come across otherwise. It's great to read the paper publications (Public Libraries especially!), but nothing beats the up-to-the-instant reporting and response time of the many librarian bloggers out there.

I had tried Bloglines back in library school but never really kept up with it. Now I use Google Reader, along with the whole suite of Google services I use regularly (privacy be damned, I suppose), and I like it. Although subscribing to RSS feeds with an aggregator means you miss out on the visual experience of each individual blog's own site, but the convenience of having all your faves in one place far outweighs that.

As I've subscribed to various feeds, I noticed that there are different types of RSS feeds, and some sites have as many as three options for the type of feed one can subscribe to--there's RSS 1.0, RSS 0.92, RSS 2.0, XML, Atom.... I dug around for some answers, and the short answer seems to be that feeds have evolved along with other web technology over time. The newer options (RSS 2.0 and Atom), support different types of "payload," which as I understand it, basically means that they can handle more advanced pieces of technology like embedded podcasts and HTML, as well as prescribing various levels of standardization. How's that for a short answer?

wrapping up week 1...

It has been fun to see everyone else's blogs, which is giving me insight into how the massive community of library bloggers has evolved. I think the key for me, after this tech training is over, will be to remember that I have a blog and hopefully find ways to continue using it.

I have a blog now

Honestly, I've been a little resistant to the idea of setting up my own blog. I'm into using new technology, I read quite a few blogs regularly with my Google Reader, and I use other forms of social software.... but never felt as if I had enough to say to justify a whole blog. (OK, I did try LiveJournal for a little while, but didn't see the point!) So now I have this wee little practice blog to chronicle my tech training process. And I suppose I will have a lot to say about that!