{"id":342,"date":"2007-09-13T20:50:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-14T00:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/wordpress\/poetponders\/?p=342"},"modified":"2023-11-26T12:57:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T18:57:45","slug":"ci-5410-research-and-rss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/2007\/09\/13\/ci-5410-research-and-rss\/","title":{"rendered":"CI 5410: Research and RSS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>For a Class on Digital Writing<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Blog post: describe the search methods and databases you employ to collect information for use in your writing; how do you determine the validity and credibility of the information you acquire and how you categorized and organize that information for use in writing; how might you use [wiki]RSS[\/wiki] feeds to Bloglines or Google Reader to enhance your students how could you improve your students\u2019 search strategies (see the Teachers Teaching Teachers site) Work on your vlog.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This week we are being asked to consider two very different topics, so I&#8217;m going to split my response accordingly. However, I&#8217;m also going to take a detour, which isn&#8217;t that unusual for me. I like detours.<\/p>\n<p>[rant]<br \/>\nKnowing a blog is for a course, especially a course on teaching writing\/composition using online technologies, leads to blog posts that are anything but &#8220;bloggy&#8221; in nature. Instead of a wry wit or wandering observations, the writing feels controlled \u2014 mediated by the context to the point it is an anti-blog. Sure, these are my opinions and experiences, but carefully couched and positioned so I sound &#8220;academic&#8221; in the posts. Blech. That&#8217;s not how I write for magazines, for theatre, or even in technical manuals, which definitely scream out for humor now and then.<br \/>\n[\/rant]<\/p>\n<h2>Searching the Web<\/h2>\n<p>Searching for information online always concerns me. I don&#8217;t trust information online unless it comes from a source I would trust in the physical world (and I wouldn&#8217;t trust an encyclopedia for serious work). Depending on what I am researching, I tend to follow the following pattern:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is there a primary source Web site?\n<ul>\n<li>For an author, scientist, or other individual, is there a &#8220;personal&#8221; page?<\/li>\n<li>For a company, organization, or government agency, is there an official site?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Can I locate an online version of a &#8220;secondary&#8221; journal I trust?\n<ul>\n<li>I subscribe to Scientific American, MIND, and others I trust.<\/li>\n<li>I use standard secondary databases, like PubMed (nih.gov), ERIC, and the SilverPlatter set<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>I e-mail writers, scientists, and others directly\n<ul>\n<li>Most university researchers have a public e-mail<\/li>\n<li>Many authors and others will respond to a polite e-mail<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I tell people not to trust what I write&#8230; which probably says something about how deep my skepticism runs. If someone visits one of the Web sites I maintain (the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tameri.com\/\">Tameri Guide for Writers<\/a> or the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.existentialprimer.com\/\">Existential Primer<\/a>, for example), they will find lists of original sources to consult and even a warning that our sites are not substitutes for reading the primary works.<\/p>\n<p>Reading about <span style=\"font-style: italic\">The Stranger<\/span> is not the same as reading Camus&#8217; work. Students have always tried to get around assignments, but the Internet makes the temptation to short-circuit a meaningful assignment all the stronger.<\/p>\n<p>We all know that 90 percent of the Web &#8220;commentary&#8221; is fluff, authored by people without expertise or training. The ten percent of great content isn&#8217;t always obvious. You have to find out about the content authors and editors before trusting information.<\/p>\n<h2>RSS Gone Wild<\/h2>\n<p>As a spoiled Mac user, I have long used RSS feeds as part of Safari. The downside of being a Safari user is that some Blogger and pbWiki features aren&#8217;t available. Honestly, not having a &#8220;Word-like&#8221; editor in Blogger doesn&#8217;t bother me, since I know the security holes such things open. Once you get addicted to built-in RSS feeds, instant dictionary access, and other slick extras, you&#8217;re a Mac\/Safari power-user.<br \/>\nRSS on the Mac means&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Never having to see an ad, pop-up, or animation of any kind!<\/li>\n<li>Being able to adjust how much of the text from each feed you see.\n<ul>\n<li>You can set to headlines only, first line, first paragraph, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Grouping feeds together in folders\n<ul>\n<li>You can open all RSS feeds as one page, open in separate tabs, or open in separate windows.<\/li>\n<li>You can nest as many folders as you want (News &gt; Tech &gt; InfoWorld &gt; Mac)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Complete control over colors and fonts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I absolutely adore RSS feeds. For years I have also used <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avantgo.com\/\">AvantGo<\/a>, which transfers Web feeds and articles to my Palm device. I&#8217;ll spend an hour or more a day reading the Palm, and I hate small screens.<\/p>\n<p>Certainly, my students would see my feeds \u2014 CNN feeds are my screen saver! I change my screen saver RSS to Science Daily, Washington Post, and other sites every few weeks. RSS feeds are a wonderful way to sort through the clutter to &#8220;real&#8221; content on the Web.<\/p>\n<p>Granted, I&#8217;m not normally inclined to subscribe to a blog site&#8230; unless it is actually a feed of columns \/ articles by a writer I trust. I am addicted to Howard Kurtz, for example. It&#8217;s fun to read about why I shouldn&#8217;t be reading the Web.<\/p>\n<p>With or without Safari, I&#8217;d encourage students to explore RSS feeds. I might object to Bloglines or other services that are really nothing but data mining resources for media conglomerates, but I know of several free readers and alternatives. The downside is that most of these don&#8217;t allow the sharing of RSS lists. Honestly, it isn&#8217;t that hard to code RSS URLs into a Web page or blog, so that&#8217;s an alternative approach.<\/p>\n<p>As for using RSS, I&#8217;d teach a student to organize feeds, since the real problem with searching for data in any form is organizing the results.<\/p>\n<p>End of wildly rambling post that lacks sufficient humor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For a Class on Digital Writing Blog post: describe the search methods and databases you employ to collect information for use in your writing; how&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/2007\/09\/13\/ci-5410-research-and-rss\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">CI 5410: Research and RSS<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":9,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,6,7,10],"tags":[53,71,72,154,243,457,467,570,589],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-student","category-teaching","category-writing","tag-assignments","tag-blogger","tag-blogging","tag-digital-composition","tag-google","tag-research","tag-rss","tag-vlogging","tag-wikipedia","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/FB_Banner_Pen_Mac.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfiw78-5w","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1806,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions\/1806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/csw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}