Google Reader

One of the assignments for this week is to start
a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Reader account and add feeds. 

We need to add the blogs of our fellow students, the sources we are following,
and any personal or professional RSS feeds we want to add. 

I discovered that when I started my Gmail account at the beginning
of the Fall Semester I had also started Google Reader,
so part of the work was already completed.

I do not follow blogs in my everyday life but those who are "followers"
would find a RSS reader very convenient.
Some blogs are updated quite infrequently but contain good information.
Instead of checking each blog to see if they have posted new articles
they simple check their RSS reader to see who has recently updated
and can read the article while in the RSS reader
or go to the website. 
 

I had clicked "follow" on some of my fellow student's blogs who use blogspot.

This is a simple process; click "follow" in the upper left hand corner,

then click "follow" again in the small screen that pops up, then "close,"
and you are done!

My blog dashboard shows the students I am "following"
and I discovered these are also on my Google Reader. Cool!

I added the rest of my fellow student's blogs who use blogspot by this method.

 One thing I do not like is that the blogs are in alphabetical order

by the title of the blog even after I renamed them by student name.

 I added those who use wordpress by clicking "Add a subscription"

in the left hand corner of Google Reader

and typing in the url of their blog. 

I also renamed these blogs by student name.

I added the two sources I am following by using the "Add a subscripton" method.

  I used the search box to find more blogs to follow.

I chose the ALSC blog (Association for Library Service to Children)

since I wish to work in Children's Services, 

For Better or For Worse Strip Fix because I like this comic strip

(it also has notes from the author of the comic strip),

and Google News Blog because it seems to be a regular source

of news for the resources I am following.

I looked through the postings of our blogs for the last two weeks and while 

it is more convenient to have everyone's postings on one page, I think it loses

the "personal touch" of actually going to the blog.