Screens and RSS: Gathering Information or Another Form of Escape

A couple of weeks ago, I embarked again on another round of 23 Things as part of a program at Appalachian State University. The first "thing" was to create a blog, so I began writing in this blog again. "Thing 2" was to explore RSS feeds. I have been subscribed to a number of blogs relating to archives and also to Appalachian history and culture. The last time that I did this, I chose Google Reader mainly because it worked so well with my Google e-mail account. I have been following ArchivesNext, Confessions of a Curator, Derangement and Description, and Curiosities and Wonders all relating to archivists and special collections in some way. The last one mentioned, Curiosities and Wonders, is an interesting blog that highlights university archives collections at the University Archives.

My biggest problem with all of this is that I fail to check Google Reader to see the latest posts of the blogs that I am "following" which makes me wonder whether I have really been following them at all. This exercise did prompt me to check my Google Reader account and I learned all sorts of interesting things going on in the profession and at other archives. This is a useful tool if you treated it like reading the morning or evening paper. It makes it much easier than searching out the individual blogs each time. I just haven't been that disciplined.

In all of these exercises, I am reminded a something a friend related to me summarizing a quote from Wendell Berry about screens. Basically, he was warning about being so lost in screens (television and computer) as escapes that you lose touch with the local world that surrounds you. This is something that I worry about, and I yearn for the day when I won't have to carry a cell phone and be so connected. More and more my interest is turning local where I believe are the answers to many of our modern day problems--local food, local businesses, local products. I think that I still prefer a local community to a virtual community.

Blogs and Feeds: Wading into the Digital Stream

When you are standing at the edge of the ocean or by a mountain stream, do you carefully wade in gradually letting your body adjust to the cold water or do you just take a deep breath and jump right in? Myself--I have never been a jumper, but after wading in so far I usually figure that it is just time to face the inevitable. I am looking at this process this way. I am still wading in to the digital stream with an introduction to blogs--this one in particular--and subscribing to RSS feeds.

For these first exercises, creating the blog was fun and easy. While I am still not sure what I have to say is of interest to anyone, it is an exercise in expression and certainly is an easy way to get information out to others. I will have to ponder on ways to best use this tool for the Archives where I spend my weekdays. I am also eager to watch some other blogs from archival repositories to see how they use the tool. This brings me to the second part of our first week of exercises, RSS feeds.

I did subscribe to some of the blogs through the Google Reader. I had my gmail account, so using Google Reader was an easy choice. It was easy to subscribe with Google Reader and I chose to follow some of the blogs from other repositories from your suggested list. I also used the Google Reader to try to search for blogs relating to Appalachia or higher education in Tennessee. Searching turned up lots of blogs out there on those two topics but very few were worth following. It reminds me of all the cable television channels that still have very few programs that I want to watch. All the Appalachian related blogs seemed to focus on coal and mountain top removal. Don't get me wrong--this is a huge issue, but there are other issues in the region worth blogging about. I did find a couple of blogs to follow on higher education in Tennessee and on Appalachia, but it really wasn't easy. I do think that there is a real need for lists like the one compiled on recommended blogs relating to archives.