Library RSS Portal Released

"Here goes: Even though it still needs work, I have decided to release version 1.0 of the LISFeeds portal before my trip to DC next week. There is a blog set up for updates, analysis, additions, etc. The one complaint that I got from beta testers was that it took a bit too long to load (about 30 seconds), and some feeds may not work. Other comments are welcome." [Library Stuff]

Whoo-hoo! If you don't really understand this RSS stuff or how it can help you, go check out Steven's feed portal. Basically, he's created a web-based RSS news aggregator of library-related blogs on one page. So rather than visit a dozen different sites, you can visit this one and read through their headlines, clicking out to read the full text of those posts that interest you.

Once the lightning strikes and you truly begin to understand the benefits of aggregation, start thinking about how great it would be if you could customize that list to include other sites of interest to you. Then pick your jaw up off the floor as you realize that you can now make this a reality.

Yes, Virginia - there is a Santa Aggregator.

Matt Croydon has so many great quotes today that I couldn't pick just one:

• "Speaking of burnout, I might have to remove the AP feeds.  I'm suffering from information overload."
   
• "The revolution will be aggregated."
   
• "Current RSS feed count: 244.
  If a tree falls in the woods and a weblogger is nearby, I'll probably hear about it."

my silly little obituary for bookmarks

"When I first started browsing the web, I was infatuated with bookmarks. Bookmarks were always bookmarks then, never 'favorites', because Netscape was the only show in town - unless you counted Mosaic. This was when Microsoft was still in denial about what the web was about.

It was so difficult to find anything on the web in those days. All the search engines seemed inadequate in major ways. So the trick was to dilligently bookmark anything you came across which could possibly be of use, because you never knew if you'd be able to find it again....

Things are different now. The only bookmarks that I care for are the ones that go along the top of the browser. I would only bookmark a small number of sites that I use a lot - which have URLs which are difficult to remember.

None of these would be other blogs, because I keep track of those in my news aggregator. I generally don't bother with blogs that don't have RSS feeds. It's just too much extra work. I know that I miss out on the some good stuff because of this, but there are only so many hours in a day....

I guess another reason why I no longer rely on bookmarks is because I blog. If I find something interesting on the web, I'll blog it. I know that the link will go out of date, but I trust to be able to find it again. Because of the symbiotic relationship between bloggers and Google, I know that my act of blogging a site will help keep it on Google's radar." [explodedlibrary.info]

You know what I wish I had back? My Lynx bookmarks from 1995-96 when I connected to the internet via Prairienet using a 9600 baud modem. It had the original URL for Yahoo (the one with the tilde in it). There seems to be a wave of web nostalgia these days.

You know what I really want, though? A search engine for the items that have already flowed through my aggregator. You see, I read hundreds of posts every day, I delete most of them, I post some of them, and some I just don't get to (especially during weeks like the current one where I'm uber-busy and not feeling 100%). So these items flow into and down my aggregator river, off the screen and now frozen in the glacier that is my Radio aggregator file. There's no good tool for retrieving any of these posts, even though I obviously conferred some value to them by virtue of not deleting them.

Will Google come up with something that either 1) lets me search past aggregator items, or 2) track them for me?

We've decided that Andy Rhinehart is channeling my RSS feed. On his way in to work this morning at our favorite Spartanburg newspaper, he thought up a way to syndicate Associated Press headlines. So put your hands together for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal's AP National and AP World RSS feeds!

Addendum: Andy says don't forget the most important feed of all: sports!

Last week I promised a new marketing web site for Illinois libraries, and today we're introducing it to our members at SLS. Sponsored by the 12 regional Library Systems, it's called Project 12, and its goal is to help libraries raise their visibility using more sophisticated marketing tools.

"Project 12 helps bring us all together. Every agency in the Illinois Library network now has access to a variety of professionally designed marketing materials that will help inform their patrons of the wonderful services they have access to @ their library."

I don't particularly like the name, but I really like the graphics and tag lines. Illinois libraries can customize the promotional cards, bookmarks, tent cards, and posters with their own contact information and logos. There's also a cool screensaver you can download, although it's not customizable. There's some good stuff here, so you should definitely be taking advantage of what this site has to offer!

HOW 2 SPK TXT

"Thumb Fun from AT&T.

Shorthand Dictionary from T-Mobile." [Mobitopia]

I keep thinking this type of language is going to start showing up more and more in virtual reference transactions (and not just in school papers or the classics). What I'm hearing so far, though, is that it hasn't happened yet. I'm watching for the first notice of a trend, though.

Hot Off Your News Clicking Service

"But I have been testing a promising new breed of software that is helping me on the daily news hunt. Called 'news readers,' these programs fetch headlines and site summaries from hundreds of Web sites I preselect and present all the information in one spot on my computer desktop. They are a more dynamic, powerful version of the digital newspapers that first appeared online in the mid-1990s and eventually took hold at portals, allowing you to create your own personal Web page.

These are more like a souped-up table of contents to all your favorite Web sites, with long lists of headlines that are automatically updated at regular intervals. You scan the headlines and click for more information on those that interest you....

There are dozens of similar products -- FeedReader, Headline Viewer and Radio UserLand are three I tested -- but the thing to understand is they are all made possible by a special data format allowing them to automatically 'read' content summaries at participating Web sites. Sites that conform to this standard often display special icons or buttons to let visitors know their content can be scanned by news-readers (also known as news aggregators). The actual technology isn't complicated; it merely involves adding a small file to a Web site summarizing its contents....

Syndic8.com creator Jeff Barr, an ex-Microsoft employee who now works as a software developer for Amazon.com, contends this open method of distributing content online is 'at the leading edge of a very slow, steady revolution.' The technology will become ubiquitous, he says, once more people realize that the reading mode 'is less distracting than the traditional method of browsing through Web site after Web site.' " [The Washington Post, via Too Much News]

Oops - maybe I spoke too soon. Of course, it remains to be seen if the WP's editors read their own paper.