I set up my Google Reader account in hopes of streamlining my information consumption process. After our class discussion regarding RSS feeds, I realized I could save time by subscribing to feeds instead of navigating to each site of interest. I subscribed to feeds both professional (education-related) and personal (celebrity gossip-related). Below I outline some unforeseen benefits and pitfalls:
- I can quickly skip over duplicate information! Many of my "personal" feeds report on the same stories. I found the Google Reader format to be very helpful in allowing me to quickly scan headlines and skip over duplicates.
- I don't have to click down into deeper layers of sites. The Google Reader format does not require me to click on links to "read the entire entry" like the original website. This results in higher efficiency when skimming info!
- I miss the varied appearances of websites. The Google Reader format standardizes the format/appearance of text. In some cases, I found myself missing the varied "looks" of the individual websites. In particular, one of the blogs I follow in my "personal" category institutes a new masthead each month. The page headers are creative and visually stimulating. Using Google Reader, I miss seeing the masthead.
- I'm not distracted by ads. The Google Reader format eliminates the flashing ads from the margin. Many times, while viewing sites, I accidentally scroll over or inadvertently click on the stubborn ads that won't go away easily or provide countless pop-up windows. In the reader, I can avoid this hassle!
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteWhen I played with the Google Reader, I also thought that if people read blog postings in the Google Reader, we don't have to care about the visual of our bolg. The Google Reader might have an assumption that people already know the visual of the site when they decide to subscribe it. I am curious if the Google Reader lets us know when only the visual on blog is changed without up-dated materials.