Learn & Play @CML Thing #21 Podcast Ur doin' it - kinda right akshually

I can't help it. I've tried podcasts, whether running across them on newspaper websites, or on television websites where I once listened to a 1/2 hour on Greys Anatomy, they always, and I mean always put me to sleep.

I'm reminded of old episodes of The Walton's where the family would be gathered around the radio, excited to listen together and slowly Grandma and then each child would drift off into slumber - as if the radio was the perfect soothe sayer. I believe the podcast is the 21st century replacement.

Still, I figured I must be missing something with podcasts so I jumped into this exercise with an open mind, eager to learn about this web 2.0 technology that I must be doing wrong.

At least from my perspective - I was not.

I do have a new iPod and I have been rockin' around the clock, so it could just be - not the right time for non audio and video broadcast(s) for me.

I'm considering all possibilities. So please don't let this reviewer sway your opinion. YMMV.

A podcast does provide a means to disseminate information to a wide and varied audience. The library could certainly use all the tools we can find to tell our story.

Allowing that I can often be found scratching my head, saying things like - "Huh, I was wrong again..." I looked at the instructions for creating one's own podcast and have stored the info in my list of ideas for The MJB Foundation to consider in the coming year.

All that said I will share these final 3 thoughts

1. I'd like to see more consistent search engines for podcasts. Kinda like I'd like to see RSS feeds be more prominent - so maybe that's just a matter of time.

2. I've been listening to talk radio for the better part of the last 15-20 years so I'm kinda tired of just listening to people talk "at" me.

3. When you start to inventory your life as I have been doing for the past few months - if you see the need for change - you get pretty busy, pretty quickly and sleep becomes a luxury you don't want to afford.

Good night Mary Ellen, Good night John Boy...

CML Learn & Play Things 8&9 All about RSS feeds

I've been using Google Reader for awhile now. It was a no brainer to find a way to use RSS feeds once I watched a Common Craft video on the topic and realized how much time it would save me. I follow several news and sports sites and more than a few blogs. To be really specific I have 32 subscriptions to date. They are divided into 8 categories. Being able to read them all in one place has halved the time it takes to keep up.

This exercise did make me clean up my reader and categorize things. I hadn't really taken the time to figure out how "all of it worked," as I can often be more of a play as you go, or play as needed individual. I'm glad I took the extra time. Google Reader has a discover feature that suggests feeds I may be interested in. I checked out a few of them, but haven't found any I'd like to add yet. I did take a look at Technorati just to check it out. It seemed like a lot to sort through. Although, it feels a little strange to have Google Reader suggesting things to me using my current feeds as guidelines I kinda like that it is there to feed my interests.

I have checked out some of the public Bloglines accounts being shared, but beyond that I think I'm going to stick with the one that brung me, at least for the time being. Google Reader also has a sharing feature. My shared items are available here.

One thing I really like about the reader is that I'm able to scroll through, look at headlines and see the first few lines of each item allowing me to decide from that content if I really need or want to read each article or blog.

One thing that I am not liking about the feeds thus far is that many sites, especially newspapers throw all their blogs together with only one feed. While some might want to read every columnist's blog from a certain paper in a certain state up north... that's not me. But I am forced to weed through them all if I want to keep up with the one or two blogs I like to follow. Aargh!

Also, like my fellow staff member I am not liking that RSS feeds are often very small and buried on the page. I think every site should have them laid out like this.

AND - I think every blog should be required to have a feed. That way I can just read it in my Google Reader - a very useful tool indeed.