RSS can make things both overwhelming and easy. Sometimes RSS is the quickest way to get just want you want…and sometimes it pulls together way too much information to give any one item your full attention. To use or not to use RSS is more of a personal preference and a personal experience. For me, RSS is dangerously close to crossing the line from convenient into overwhelming.
RSS is fast, up to date and customized. RSS can save time. No need to visit each site individually and manually search for information. RSS does the work for you by gathering, sorting and organizing feeds in one space through the power of automation ;-)
RSS is powerful but it can be overwhelming for some users, especially new users (I can just picture my mom trying to set one up…). I think some users – myself included – may find Google Reader, Bloglines, etc just too confusing to navigate or manage thus missing many articles they would have liked to see. Also, sometimes the need exists to navigate away from the reader to view a full-length article which can negate the convenience of having everything condensed on one page. This begs the question why not just surf the web…and surfing the web is much more enjoyable to me than these readers! Plus, on the web I’m always free to click around and wander to sites I may not have discovered yet. RSS is sort of like a wet blanket as there’s little freedom to explore when specific information appears in stringent fashion.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
My Heritage
My Uncle Bob, who’s been into genealogy since he retired in 2007 and has been trying to get me involved in his new hobby for a few months, recently grabbed my attention with My Heritage (http://www.myheritage.com). From what I hear My Heritage is a website that will organize and store family photos/albums. My uncle tells me there’s a way to share photos/albums with other members and use their website to create a virtual family tree. Best of all, since Uncle Bob has already done so much work on our family tree, being able to “share” his info will make things much easier for me (always a good thing).
In the past the idea of genealogy wasn’t very appealing to me. Moreover, the logistics of working with my uncle, who relocated to Florida post-retirement, was somewhat daunting. I couldn’t imagine sending emails and individual pics back and forth! My Heritage seems to streamline this process to make it easier, faster…and more fun! Now I’m excited to get involved in this project (perhaps after the semester!). I also think because it’s on the web my cousin in Georgia will be able to get her kids interested in genealogy. If they can work a Wii I’m sure the kids can upload and look through family photos.
I haven’t tried it out myself yet, but my uncle tells me there’s a way to tag people in photos and match them to where those same people appear in other photos. Maybe then I will learn who some of the people are in my family photo albums. I’m definitely excited to explore this site in the future and hopefully learn some cool things about my family!
In the past the idea of genealogy wasn’t very appealing to me. Moreover, the logistics of working with my uncle, who relocated to Florida post-retirement, was somewhat daunting. I couldn’t imagine sending emails and individual pics back and forth! My Heritage seems to streamline this process to make it easier, faster…and more fun! Now I’m excited to get involved in this project (perhaps after the semester!). I also think because it’s on the web my cousin in Georgia will be able to get her kids interested in genealogy. If they can work a Wii I’m sure the kids can upload and look through family photos.
I haven’t tried it out myself yet, but my uncle tells me there’s a way to tag people in photos and match them to where those same people appear in other photos. Maybe then I will learn who some of the people are in my family photo albums. I’m definitely excited to explore this site in the future and hopefully learn some cool things about my family!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Feed Revisited
I’d like to think society is at least a few generations away from the world of Feed. Feed sure didn’t have a happy ending, but I refuse to believe our future will be as bleak and vacuous as this. Are there things around us right now that with some more tweaking and the benefit of 20 more years of science could develop into the proposed Feed future? Sure. Other students have mentioned Bluetooth (a cool example I had not thought of!). There’s also micro-chipping Fido and 10 year olds with blackberries. Sometimes I walk into the grocery store and I hear people three steps away from me not talking to me – but rather to someone on the other end of a cell phone. It’s a little disturbing. At the end of the day, though, I have to believe in our humanity…our basic need as humans to connect to others in some way other than via a DSL line, avatar or text message. If I do believe Feed will come true, turning my great-grandchildren into mindless tech zombies and corporate puppets, what’s the point?
What won’t leave my mind is those lesions! How terrible! All these kids walking around accessorizing them, making them fashion statements while their flesh is being eaten away – it’s the ultimate proof of their total ignorance of the real world. I kept waiting for the book to explore this more, but I suppose leaving some things to the imagination is even worse. More so, I think it’s the over-reliance on artificial things at the expense of real nature that is most disturbing. People nowadays flock to oceans, beaches, hiking trails, campgrounds, etc to escape all the annoying things of the real world. What happens when there is no real nature? Nevermind…let’s not go there just yet…I’m not ready to imagine it.
What won’t leave my mind is those lesions! How terrible! All these kids walking around accessorizing them, making them fashion statements while their flesh is being eaten away – it’s the ultimate proof of their total ignorance of the real world. I kept waiting for the book to explore this more, but I suppose leaving some things to the imagination is even worse. More so, I think it’s the over-reliance on artificial things at the expense of real nature that is most disturbing. People nowadays flock to oceans, beaches, hiking trails, campgrounds, etc to escape all the annoying things of the real world. What happens when there is no real nature? Nevermind…let’s not go there just yet…I’m not ready to imagine it.
goodbye mwscils598f08
R.I.P. my old Blog mwscils598f08.
After 13 days and 2 review requests submitted to Blogger because my previous blog was incorrectly flagged as spam, I have now been notified via my dashboard that my old blog will soon be deleted due to my "inaction" to have the Blogger TOS Violation/Lock removed.
Since Blogger had thus far been unresponsive to my review requests, welcome to my new Blog which will contain all class posts from Monday, September 29, 2008 forward.
After 13 days and 2 review requests submitted to Blogger because my previous blog was incorrectly flagged as spam, I have now been notified via my dashboard that my old blog will soon be deleted due to my "inaction" to have the Blogger TOS Violation/Lock removed.
Since Blogger had thus far been unresponsive to my review requests, welcome to my new Blog which will contain all class posts from Monday, September 29, 2008 forward.
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