Google Reader

Thank you to Pat Pederson and Elizabeth Jurkiewicz for their tutorial on Google Reader.



Google Reader is a tool aimed to simplify and make easier the use of the web. It automatically feeds updates or new items directly to an account so users can go to one place to receive information from their favorite sites. Users can create an account with Google Reader and subsribe to the websites of their choice. Any new information with go straight to them as it becomes available. Google Reader is a web 2.0 tool because it focuses on enhancing users web experience by allowing them to access information quickly and easily, as well as organize and share information with others. It is a technology that gives users control over the web, while still having the convenience of access.

---

Special Features

• Keyboard shortcuts: shift + ? gives a full list of shortcuts to make reading/organizing feeds faster and easier. These shortcuts allow users to switch between stories, browse stories, and hide/show items in a short matter of time. Users do not have to scan all the feeds, but can move directly to a story or among stories (Lowensohn).
• Google gears: users can install this feature into a mobile device and it will download thousands of new feeds, even if you are offline.
• Greasemonkey: users can get even more convenience by selecting to have feeds sent directly to your gmail account. You can read updates/news feeds right with other emails (Lowensohn).
• Trends: Google Reader tracks what you have subscribed to and what feeds you are most interested in. It can calculate recommendations of other feeds and provide a history of activity to keep you updated and knowledgeable about what feeds you are getting (Lowensohn).

Strengths

• Users can access favorite RSS feeds in one place, and get updates from articles, blogs, etc. sent directly to them.
• Creating an account with Google Reader is quick and easy.
• It gives you the opportunity to select which feeds you want, even if you cannot rememeber the exact web address. Google Reader will find it for you.
• Allows access to news updates on the go, with a simple installation of Google Gears.
• Allows users the ability to organize content and share feeds with others.
• It offers a variety of help resources for getting started including tutorials, videos, and questions/answers.

Weaknesses

• It requires users to set up and organize label feeds. It is more complicated and needs to be labeled in a manner that can be easily retrieved, and cannot be labeled automatically based on past choices (Tschabitscher).
• It requires time to set up and organize in the beginning, but saves time later once set up. It does not save time of reading feeds if constantly receiving updates to your email.
• It also does not allow you to annotate or provide descriptions of your labels, so organizing takes some effort (Tschabitscher).

---

Comparison to similar Web 2.0 tools

• My Yahoo! (http://cm.my.yahoo.com/)
  • As might be expected, Google Reader was easier to add feeds to because it's algorithmic search is so much more powerful, swift and comprehensive. Yahoo! offered many of the same standard choices--BBC News, New York Times News, ESPN sports, and so on--but could not find the Librarians Internet Index even though the LII offers a Yahoo! RSS feed; I had to add LII from the LII website.
  • Registering for My Yahoo! requires a username that is actually a Yahoo! email account, password, full name, address, age, gender and other personal information. Yahoo! uses the information to tailor feeds to the individual, and probably shares the generic information and preferences with advertisers. While this would be fine for adults, it would not be acceptable for students to offer this information in a school setting.
  • My Yahoo! is visually appealing in that there are plenty of pictures, icons and webpage decoration. To my taste it is a bit cluttered, but others, including students, would likely find this "user friendly."
• NewsGator (http://m.newsgator.com)
  • NewsGator offers the simplest audio/video explanation of how RSS feeds work, and the clearest description of the different sorts of aggregators available (web based, desktop, mobile phone). The video did not include any flashiness (in any sense), and included the narrator signing into his own NewsGator feed. The simplicity and straightforwardness would be welcoming and even comforting to adults for whom RSS is mysterious. It is not geared to people under grade 7, but youngsters may not be interested in such an explanation.
  • Joining NewsGator is very simple, requiring only a username, password, full name and email address. The site may be gathering some user trends but aside from my email address, does not ask for what I consider personal information such as my address, age, gender and the like.
  • The NewsGator pages themselves are clean, that is, there are no ads and no pictures. While the absence of ads is something I personally welcome, and would be welcome in school settings, the complete absence of any pictures makes the pages stark, and potentially uninteresting to students and some teachers.
  • Adding and deleting feeds is easy, with the tools meant for this clearly displayed at the top of the browser, like a toolbar. NewsGator did find items from the Librarians Internet Index, and I was able to subscribe to LII feeds by clicking on an item and going to the subsequent screen.

---

References, Articles, etc.

Arapahoe (Littleton, CO) High School. Blogging Policy. No date. Accessed 6 March 2009. http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/forStudents/AHSBloggingPolicy/tabid/1486/Default.aspx

Edgecombe County (NC) Public Schools. Superintendent’s welcome to parents. No date. Accessed 6 March 2009. http://www.ecps.us/rss.aspx

Goodstein, Anastatia. “What Would Madison Avenue Do?” School Library Journal vol. 54 no5. May 2008. Library Lit & Inf Full Text. H. W. Wilson. Syracuse University Library System, Syracuse NY. 2 March 2009. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/.

Lincoln (NE) Public Schools. Teacher Resources. No date. Accessed 6 March 2009. http://www.lps.org/post/detail.cfm?id=310

McQuillan, Jody. Norfolk (NE) Public Schools. Library News. October 2008. Accessed 6 March 2009. http://www2.norfolkpublicschools.org/pages/uploaded_files/LibraryNews_Oct.2008.pdf

Walker, Doug. Hillsdale (NJ) Public Schools. Office of Technology newsletter. February 2008. Accessed 6 March 2009. http://www.hillsdaleschools.com/5351011612436990/lib/5351011612436990/_files/Newsletter-_February_2008.pdf

—Harnessing the Web with RSS Feeds. 7 October 2008. Accessed 6 March 2009. http://www.hillsdaleschools.com/53510417999243/blank/browse.asp?A=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=53222

Warlick, David. “Literacy in the New Information Landscape.” Library Media Connection vol. 26 no1. August/Sept. 2007. Library Lit & Inf Full Text. H. W. Wilson. Syracuse University Library System, Syracuse NY. 2 March 2009. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/.

—. “A Day in the Life of Web 2.0.” techLEARNING.com. 28 August 2008. Accessed 2 March 2009. www.techlearning.com/article/13980