Kraftd's Weblog

RSS feeds – useful?

kraftd — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:07:34 +0000

I can see where signing up for a couple RSS feeds may be useful for someone with a couple of basic sites they visit each day. My husband has signed up for a science news aggregator that feeds right into his email each day, and he really likes it. However, to be honest, I know I’m unlikely to log in to one more site to check the feeds I requested.

As for libraries, an RSS feed for new items would be useful, if it could be customized by a particular subject or genre. I’ve known a lot of patrons in the past who love to see lists of newly acquired materials. Notifications of upcoming library events would also be a good use of RSS feeds.

Hello world!

kraftd — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:55:31 +0000

So this is my first venture into the world of blogging. Since I hate journaling and never managed to keep a diary for more than a day or two, I don’t know how interesting this will be.

At any rate, Hello Library 2.0 Challenge!

Getting blogged down?

kraftd — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:01:37 +0000

I just created a bloglines account, and set up feeds from several sites. I’ll have to see how this works out, but I’m worried that rather than saving time, it may end up being another time sink like Facebook. I will have to sit down and weed out the sites I know I’ll never visit so that I’m not overwhelmed by info I don’t need.

Thoughts on lifelong learning

kraftd — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:38:14 +0000

Unless you are some type of mineral, you automatically engage in lifelong learning. Adapting to changes in society or events in daily life may not entail taking a class or reading a book, but we all learn nonetheless. How many of us are former technophobes who refused to buy a computer for fear that (somehow) the world as we know it would collapse when everyone got connected and someone accidentally hit the ‘delete’ key? OK, I am. But I have learned to think differently about technology, and have come to greatly appreciate living in the age of the internet. I am also lucky to live in an time where someone’s age is less of a barrier – people expect to live a long, active life. It’s not unusual to see retired people going back to school or learning a new skill.

Lesson 1 notes:

Out of the 7 1/2 steps, I would say I have the easiest time with using technology. I normally assume there will be some tool or technology to help with whatever I am trying to learn, whether it is a new cooking technique or how to send photos of my son to his grandparents 1200 miles away.

The most difficult is playing. A lot of times, even learning something ‘fun’ becomes too much of a task or job. I become frustrated if I don’t get it.