RSS

What I like about RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is that you can subscribe to new content from a favourite website and it will appear in a link on your blog rather than you having to go to the URL of that website and check it for new content. This is Pull Technology versus Push Technology.

To subscribe to news feeds I looked for the Powerhouse Museum Picture of the Day; two topics on the ABC News website (environment and aboriginal); the White House 08 blog on the Sydney Morning Herald's blog website (www.smh.com.au/blogcentral/index.htm); and a blog from the Spooky Men's Chorale, a group of folk-singing comedians based in the Blue Mountains.

Another blog I saw and found interesting was by Helene Blowers who is credited with founding Learning 2.0 (http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com). She said she was asked whether the use,or growth in use, of Web 2.0 may be unsustainable. I found it interesting that she said that is not the point; she suggested we stop focusing on long-term issues and solutions and simply try things out, and think of pilot projects and the value of transience. I am not sure where I stand on this. On the one hand, I think some new inventions wouldn't happen if people only thought about the long-term implications. Also libraries are in danger of being left behind as information providers if they don't learn how to use Web 2.0. However I don't think Web 2.0 can necessarily be used to replace long-term solutions that may be outdated unless we think through the implications. I wonder how libraries in other cultures are handling this. In 2001 I asked in Germany whether they had corporate libraries there and was told no, corporations have information portals on the internet.

I wonder if there is some way a public libraries' users can "subscribe" to its continuous catalogue updates, whatever format these might appear in. Another possible use of RSS in a library could be updates of a writer talks program; the library where I work hosts regular talks by writers. Another could be updates of a book club program.