Hi everyone!
Thing 4 is about installing RSS feeds, which are extremely useful streamlining tools. A reader (either the person or the electronic apparatus) can import entries from other blogs or web pages to a single space, or, can subscribe to said information and have it stored to a single account page. Since I'm a Google/Gmail/Blogger user, I went with the Google Reader. I have never used Yahoo! Pipes, but they also sound like a worthwhile option. Personally, I didn't need to set up a 5th email account (wow, I need an RSS for my email), so I stuck with Google. For fun, I also added an RSS feed to this blog, in case anyone was interested.
I have a few subscriptions, but they are of a personal nature-- friends, travel blogs, and the blog of one Charles River Women's Rugby-- but I actually write that one so it's a little silly to subscribe to. My apologies, world. It's all a facade of popularity.
Anyway, setting up feed readers is super easy: all that is required is a URL and an account of some sort (blog, email, Google Reader, Yahoo! Pipes, etc.). In fact, Facebook also allows you to import one blog, so that blog entries import automatically as Notes to the linked Facebook account. If your archives/library has a Facebook account and a blog, you can import the blog so that the entries come up automatically. I don't have an archives website of my own to work with (yet!), but this is something that we do with the rugby blog as well, because Facebook receives far more attention than the blog as a stand-alone. Instructions for importing a blog into Facebook can be found here (you'll need to sign in). I have seen RSS feeds incorporated into job search blogs before; this is certainly a helpful way to streamline an otherwise overwhelming collection of sites and entries. Simmons College GSLIS has a great Jobs & Opportunities blog. I'd link to it, but it requires a password validation. There is also a Google Reader App for Android-- so if you're a Droider, you can get all this information sent right to your mobile, which is also super convenient but in tiny, tiny, print. Here's an entry about that in the Google Reader Blog. Yes, Google Reader has its own blog, meaning you can subscribe to a blog about subscribing to blogs. So...there's that.
I'm sure everyone and there mother went searching for archives blogs on the cue from 23 Things, and this is the first thing to pop up on everyone's favorite ubiquitous quick-search tool: Archivesblogs.com. It's about archives, and using readers to pull together from many different blogs. The list is very long. It's a good example of RSS in action. This is a Mob of archives blogs.
Happy syndicating, everyone!
Bee
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