Mmm.. Really Short Syndication, Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, how can one acronym have so many potential meanings??? Anyway, I joined up to Bloglines and subscribed to a few feeds; some news, 2 weather reports, and a word of the day (gubernatorial: of or pertaining to a governor). I found the site a bit confusing, and more complex than I could ever require. I already have a couple of feeds coming through Google Reader, which I find a lot simpler. I am much more likely to actually look at it because it is linked to my gmail account and it is just a click away when I am checking my email. It is one less thing to sign into and remember passwords and usernames.
The YouTube video about RSSs suggest that it is way of saving time- why go to all of those sites when they can come to you? But I suspect it is really just another way to waste time on the internet. How much information about the world do we really need? But that is just my internet headache talking. I can certainly see why news junkies would enjoy RSS feeds. getting their daily fix is very easy. I think they would also appeal to people with a passionate interest in a particular topic, or to people doing a lot of frequent research on the internet. With a little discipline I think that RSS could be very useful in a professional sense- a regular quick scan of the headlines to see what is new, while resisting the urge to spend half the morning following up on all of the trivial stuff.
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Ah, I'm not alone in having a noisy internet headache, always in my ear about something. Usually something about getting back to work, all this stuff on the screen is irrelevant (and possibly incorrect). But then I come across a fabulous piece of prose which I am then obliged to read and respond to, increasing both my internet headache and the volume of its nagging voice. Thus, here I am typing away, ignoring both the work I should be doing and another regular noisy voice, my cat, asking for her dinner which she can smell thawing in the (closed off) front room.
Hmm, got a bit off the Really Scintillating Subject there, and now the gubernatorial limosine is honking away outside, telling my gubernatorial personage that the gubernatorial chauffeur's patience at my lateness is at an end. Back to my gubernatorial duties then; champagne at the opera I do believe.
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