So this morning I reluctantly started to subscribe to an RSS feed, as required by "23 things". Reluctantly, because I already get far too much electronic communication and actually need to reduce, not increase the amount of time I spend dealing with it. I also don't understand how this is better than other means of communication, and get grumpy at the technologist's sales spiel "try it, you'll like it, lots of other people do". This seems to work OK for drug dealers but I normally need a better value proposition to invest my scarce time. Wikipedia is not helpful, it just contains pages and pages of coding and technical talk, nothing on how this technology can actually be useful to me.
And then when I clicked to start the subscribe process (to brandchannel) this comprehensively froze my computer, and it took me nearly 10 minutes to get it going again. Frankly I get more than enough clumsy, computer-freezing technology of dubious value from the university's ITS department and don't need to add to it. Can anyone tell me what value RSS is when I can get updates from businesses I'm interested in on Twitter, a much simpler technology which I can access easily when I want to? What regularly changing web content is of such professional use to someone like me that I need to know about it instantly, interrupting my other work?
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A few comments in response:
ReplyDelete- "... this morning I reluctantly started..." - was this doomed from the outset? Col looking for reasons for it to fail? Possibly! ;-)
- 23 Things is all about trying new ways of using technology. There is no expectation that you need to continue using all of these tools, however the objective of the program is all about trying and discovering. And learning along the way. You tried, you discovered, and you learned. Well done.
- Now, in defence of RSS, it certainly saves me a lot of time and trouble. I am subscribed to a number of feeds, so I can now get all of the updates to my favourite sources of information in one location. It overcomes the very problems you described in your post, namely (a) "far too much electronic communication" (it reduces the info coming to me); (b) many providers aren't on Twitter, so I can be sure I am getting ALL of my information in one location; and (c) it doesn't freeze my computer, unlike Lotus Notes and other ITS-enforced applications!
Don't give up.. please give it one more chance!
Doomed from the outset? Possibly. I still cling to the idea that i can get the info I want at the time I care to ask for it, not when it's convenient for someone to send it to me. Bookmarks do this for me very well, as do tweets and the occasional email ToC subscription. Now perhaps an RSS feed would be better, if I could get it working, but I still don't see the point. The value proposition isn't there for me to de-bug new technology that does the same for me as something else I already use. If I was a journalist or someone needing to keep up with breaking news I would of course find this service very valuable, but I doubt it in this case. But since I had foreshadowed my grumpiness at the start of my original post I'll have another go at setting up an RSS feed on my super new office computer.
ReplyDeleteOh, and a little bonus innovation. As I was proofreading this I cama cross a lovely typo - "teachnology" - I hereby announce this as a new word to descibe pedagogic technology.
ooh this RSS feed is a good idea! :-) I just subscribed to the Elsevier business and management feed, it looks useful. (Took a reinstall of internet explorer on my four-month old computer to do it though)
ReplyDeleteanyway here's the link if anyone else wants to check it out
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/BusinessAndManagementNews