Suzanne Aurilio (one of our classmates :) mentioned in a recent post that she's "surprised the idea hasn't cught on in the mainstream."
She also said,
"Without RSS, I'd have to go to too many places. Without it, I wouldn't be able to keep up on trends in my field and the latest developments in the news and things that interest me."I'm so with you Suzanne! I think the catch is that we're not mainstream. I don't think that mainstream American knowledge workers spend time keeping up with their field outside of work and they probably don't have the type of interests that draw them to learn in their leisure time. I admit, I truly believe that I have some form of Learning Obsessive Compulsive Disorder :) When I'm interested in a topic, I dive in head first and drown myself in information. I am an information junkie :) I learn so much through blogs and look forward to reading my Google Reader feeds several times a day. I can't wait to see what is waiting to inspire me and teach me. I don't think most people are like this.
I've spoken to several people over the years who have told me that they don't enjoy, nor do they "get" blogs. I can't even begin to wrap my mind around that because I've learned more from blogs than books over the last several years. I suppose you actually have to spend time surfing the web in a particular way to discover these gems. I don't know, but I sure am thankful for them and Google Reader.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI love your comment: "I think the catch is that we're not mainstream. I don't think that mainstream American knowledge workers spend time keeping up with their field outside of work and they probably don't have the type of interests that draw them to learn in their leisure time." I would suspect you are correct! All of us are enrolled in a course that does not give us college credit but simply helps us to improve ourselves and probably the education of our students...it sounds so radical :-) And, it really is for many. I smile at this because I think of a little girl I used to know. She was about ten and no matter what the teacher would ever say, assign, etc... the girl would respond with "What do we get?" There had to be a reward for doing it. It wasn't enough that she learned something because there had to be a reward at the end, like candy, or extra recess etc... I now still see many adults who look at life the same way - "well, what will I get?" Knowledge! It's a pretty cool thing in and of itself :-)
~ Erica
Two years ago I wrote about technologies that shouldn't be geeky anymore (http://lisahistory.net/wordpress/2009/09/four-web-technologies-that-shouldnt-be-geeky-anymore/) and RSS was right up there. I still think its geekiness is part of the reason people don't use it.
ReplyDeleteBut you're absolutely right -- they don't use blogs in general. Or, they use them, but don't realize they're blogs. I think Jim Sullivan makes a good point about this at http://www.slideshare.net/ProgramforOnlineTeaching/blog-notes-jim-sullivan-on-blogging (his point is it's all blogs, the New York Times, your local TV station website, etc.). An additional barrier to RSS.
Erica, I totally agree - We are doing a radical thing here :) and Knowledge is so cool! I replied to a question on Twitter today - What are your hobbies? I replied, "learning, reading..." I suppose it's odd to many.
ReplyDeleteLisa, great blog post - tags :) Love them! Jim's right, especially today (maybe not 5 years ago but definitely today), everyone's using some kind of content management system with a feed...they are all blogs. I hadn't thought of it like that.
I'll change that to 15 years ago (can't edit comments)
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post -- it was definitely an "aha" moment for me! I don't know why I hadn't set up folders in my Google reader before (I have them set up for all of my other google products). So much easier!
I found your post enjoyable to read -- lots of different kinds of content, a nice balance between text/images. A good reminder for those of us who want to connect better to our students online.
I'm so glad it helped and you liked the post. I feel like I'm struggling to form cohesive thoughts without rambling about 10 things at once :)
ReplyDeleteNote about the folders: You can drag them to reorder them. For some reason, Google doesn't automatically put them in alphabetical order...at least it doesn't appear that way. Maybe I'm missing something. ABC order helps me a lot.
Is RSS really a geek thing? I'm definitely not a techie, and I love Google Reader. It actually makes reading online so much more accessible for me. It puts all my reading in one place, and I don't have to remember where I got it. Perfect for the lazy online reader!
ReplyDeleteNancy, maybe it's not! You give me hope :) I just don't know anyone else who uses it. I agree. No more looking around...it all comes right to you.
ReplyDelete