Afternoon Day 9: Google Reader

[Beth]

I set up my account in Google Reader, and started subscribing to feeds, and I feel a bit information overloaded. I now need to spend some time going through the feeds I subscribed to, but it seems overwhelming because they will just keep piling in automatically while I'm trying to look through the old ones. For someone who likes to take my time sorting and sifting through information, and who has to look at all the information that is presented to me, this seems like it will become an unwieldy task. I think I need to start out a bit more slowly and just add one new feed at a time--and to take more time deciding whether or not that feed really relates to my information search. I followed the instructions on the Using Google Reader sheet, which was very helpful in teaching me how to use this tool, but now I think I need to go back and clean up my feeds--pare them down to only those that are most relevant to my search.

I think in teaching my students how to use this tool, I would guide them through adding feeds much more slowly and have them evaluate each feed--probably with some sort of checklist--before they subscribed to it. Hopefully, this would prevent them from getting information overloaded, because when that happens I would imagine that they would shut down, stop using Google Reader, and miss out on the helpful functions it can serve in their research process. Getting overwhelmed may also give students a negative association with research, which I certainly wouldn't want to do, since many of them are not that familiar with the process yet. So, that is just something that I personally am going to be aware of in facilitating others' use of this site--making sure to use the site in a way that will not cause "info glut" but instead will enable students to find relevant, reliable resources for their inquiry topics.

[Aileen Malave]

Feel confident that you were able to at least be able to subscribe to feeds. I, on the other hand, had gotten as far as setting up an account and it was all down hill from there (smile). This is a website I definitely need much more practice with.

[Julie]

Beth, you made me laugh. I was thinking about when the kids in school sometimes share something a little too personal, and I say tartly "TMI, guys. Too Much Information. Well, that's how all those feeds make me feel, too. Too Much Information. Hopefully we become more expert at sorting the wheat from the chaff with time, in just the same way that with plain old search-type Googling, we learn to browse results and see what's going to be closest to what we want...

[Julia Loving]

Beth, my sentiments exactly. I thought I was off of the beaten track. Thanks for showing me I am not alone.