RSS strikes me as an old idea reworked for a new technology and a new market(or is it the same old market?)
The first entrepreneur who thought of daily home deliveries of the newspaper, was perhaps the first to get a glimpse of push /pull technology, while soaking in the tub one night. Why not deliver the paper to someone's home instead of making them come to the paper shop,or the pizzeria or the Chinese takeaway.
Now, whether this takes account of human foibles like laziness,time restriction or more positively, curiosity, it is an idea that is here to stay. Its value is found in many areas. It saves time(searching and key strokes,download time) . Having subscribed ,do we feel an obligation to read what we may have otherwise passed on every other day. Have we saved time?
People feel a need to keep up to date- especially today. Today, in some crowds, it is the ultimate in embarrassment to be in last week's fad or, recycling last weeks news. When it means money,when the back pocket nerve has been stung, it is doubly important to be up to date on the latest technology, the canniest improvement or the most economical tweaking of an idea or product.
My interest is much less about being hip to the new thing or fad. My needs are simple . I want to know the news,what happened and why. That's why my RSS feeds are predominantly news and current affairs orientated with the odd bit of popular science thrown in.
In the library ,things are always changing. Writers keep writing, technology feeds on itself and morphs into something else, storage grows or decreases, funding waxes and wanes ( sometimes it wanes so much as to almost disappear),fads come and go- you know the drill. No matter what goes up or down, the need to be up to date just seems to be ever constant. This is where RSS is relevant to libraries.Quite simple applications may be new book releases, State Library updates,technological updates,coming events and even discussions on line-blogs of new thinking about library "philosophy".
- ABC News : Just In
- The Economist: News analysis
- Powerhouse Museum - Photo of the Day
- Scientific American
- Sydney Morning Herald
In the library ,things are always changing. Writers keep writing, technology feeds on itself and morphs into something else, storage grows or decreases, funding waxes and wanes ( sometimes it wanes so much as to almost disappear),fads come and go- you know the drill. No matter what goes up or down, the need to be up to date just seems to be ever constant. This is where RSS is relevant to libraries.Quite simple applications may be new book releases, State Library updates,technological updates,coming events and even discussions on line-blogs of new thinking about library "philosophy".
