Library Tech Confidential

A few days ago I posted about my increasing expectation that any and all content streams will be available by RSS. I was treated to further proof of my over-reliance on feeds this morning when Netvibes, my aggregator of choice, was down during breakfast.

Lately I’ve been checking Netvibes in lieu of a morning paper (though I do hit several local and non-local newspaper feeds that way) and, today, it felt exactly as though my morning paper had gone mysteriously missing. I was utterly lost.

It’s just not possible to skim the web-based version of a newspaper as you would in print; with a good feed reader and well-implemented feeds, however, it’s possible to approximate the balance between the capacity to see everything briefly at the level of headlines and ledes without overwhelming the user, while maintaining the ability to easily drill down to the content of whole articles you’re interested in.

Another lesson here is that dependence on web-based applications is risky, and that maintaining a failover option (an alternate web-based service or, gasp, a desktop-based application) is crucial for critical tasks.

You know, mission-critical tasks… like having something to read while you do the ‘ol bagel-and-coffee morning ‘nutrition’ routine.

My feed addiction has gotten to the point where I’m deeply disappointed when any given stream of content available on a database-driven website isn’t being pushed out via RSS or Atom in every conceivable circumstance… or, increasingly, when it’s only pushed out in one particular way (i.e. all posts) and cannot be customized by category.

Heck, even if your site is nothing but static HTML pages, you can hand code a bare-bones RSS feed with minimal additional effort and add significant value for your target audience. But if you’re using any modern CMS it ought to be a breeze.

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Sharing Study [OCLC] : “OCLC, the world’s largest library research and service organization, has released the third in a series of reports that scan the information landscape to provide data, analyses and opinions about users’ behaviors and expectations in today’s networked world.” (via)

Today I discovered this excellent YouTube video via TechCrunch, which is a must-see for information professionals in search of an engaging way to open a discussion about emerging technologies and information management with a non-specialist, non-enthusiast, or whomever else for that matter.

I’d love to embed the video here, but for some reason the YouTube code breaks this blog’s template.