It’s like a tech-epiphany. I now have a bit of an inkling as to why (some) people frolic over (some) tools. Several entries back or so, I mentioned that I’m keenly interested in learning about the latest developments in e-learning, and that I’d expanded my reading to include several new blogs, sites, etc., that focus on this field. But how to keep track?
Well, I am now a dedicated user of RSS, having installed Sage RSS reader (which is an extension of Mozilla Firefox), and it does the trick like a charm. I’m not looking for a “relationship” with the ed-tech bloggers, I just want their information. RSS, like a good tool, puts that needed distance between me and them, and away we go, together, on a project that has some shared goals.
Wait, it gets worse.
I have signed up for …watchlists …on Technorati. I’m still exploring this one, but here’s a results page for e-learning, one of my watchlists. Because of the symbiotic linkages between Technorati and Flickr (eurgh, pangs of guilt arise because I never did find the time to order my Flickr photos into sets, etc., nor to follow up with more photos of those development projects around town….), anyway: because of this linkage, my Technorati watchlist page for e-learning shows me Flickr photos that have been uploaded with that “tag.” I click on that link and am taken to this Flickr page, one of several photos uploaded by Design Online Content. Would I ever have learned about this, without using those other tools…? At the same time, how useful is it to see the photos?
On the downside, I’m still unclear as to how to subscribe to a site’s RSS feed if the site doesn’t display the little orange logo on the bottom right of the page. The Sage RSS reader needs that icon, and most blogs have it. But if the site doesn’t have that icon, I can’t use the reader — or at least not the simple one-step click version offered by the Sage tool.
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