#9 So much feeding I'm feeling a bit bloated

I thought I kind of already did this in Thing #8, but apparently not. Even though at this point I am looking for less to occupy my work time, not more, I decided I would check out these whole feed search tool thingies. You never know, they might come in handy someday.

The problem I had with all of them is that I didn't really know what to search for. If you thought googling for "librarians" or suchlike brought up a depressing number of irrelevant results, don't try searching Feedster or Technorati for it. On the other hand, I did like Technorati's interface and actually did find another interesting library blog when I clicked on the "blog" tab (to look for blogs about or by librarians instead of as a keyword in any blog post anywhere). Like the catalogue, it's simply a matter of having an idea of what you want to find and searching accordingly. Which takes me back to my original point—because I didn't really have a clear goal, it was a bit hard to feel like I was getting anywhere.

I think I liked Technorati the best, although the Google blog search wasn't bad either, and had less of the eyeball-scalding colours (though Feedster certainly comes top in that particular department...my colour-blind brother would love all that lime green; me, not so much).

Anyway, I also think that this whole 2.0 thing is showing an alarming tendency to eat my life. At least I'm not as bad as the people who, not content with spending their RL (Real Life) telling people where the X is and answering the odd reference query, have started up a SL (Second Life) doing the same thing. They're even keeping statistics, having debates about collection development, etc. I find this unutterably sad—and I am not a technophobe and do enjoy playing computer games. It's all about keeping a sense of proportion.

#8 feeding you, feeding me

I have set up my Bloglines account. I actually did this last week, I just didn't get around to posting about it. And sorry, those of you who were eagerly awaiting whatever little nuggets of interestingness you were going to get out of finding out what I like to keep up with, I'm not sharing. It's mine, all mine!

Seriously, I do have a slight issue with the sort of compulsive publicising that Web 2.0 seems to encourage. I think social networking and things like that are fine, no dramas, no issues. I can see how sharing your feeds could be productive in a professional context. But why on earth would you want anyone in the world with an internet connection to be able to access your bookmarks? Sorry, but there are some things the world a) doesn't need to know and b) probably isn't very interested in knowing anyway. Just like the world doesn't need to know what I had for breakfast, or the cute thing my cat did today, or how long I've spent bludging on the internet when I was supposed to be doing meaningful work.

I realise I am coming across as slightly grumpy here. The thing I want to stress is that it's all about context. Social networking online is simply that, social. Some aspects can translate into a professional context, others not so much. For example, I don't particularly think that blogging works for most organisations, because most organisations seem to use it as another marketing tool (hey look at the neat new programs we've got/products we've produced/books we've bought/widgets we've widgeted). And sorry, but no one cares. Blogs are personal, they're about connecting people with people and appealing on that individual level. And just like you wouldn't go out and try to make friends with every single person you met on a particular day, you wouldn't want to read every single blog (even were such a thing possible). Most of them will seem mundane, pedestrian, dull. But amongst all the corporate dross and meaningless chatter, you'll find someone who sees things the same way you do, or makes you laugh, or has something interesting to say—the way you might see someone who has a nice smile, or is wearing a really interesting combination of shoes and handbag, or says "thank you" like they mean it.

So, in lieu of publicising my Bloglines account, I tender Miss Information, a blogger who has that effect on me. I've added her blogs (and the other ones I've embedded in my profile, as well as a select few others, including my favouritest webcomic) to my Bloglines account, which will remain as a private tool for my private use. And I actually think it will be useful, and I probably wouldn't have given it a go had it not been for this program, so elephant stamps all round.