Now I am way, way a newbie at this so if I can take the plunge and write a tentative post about it, and you don't know what I'm talking about, you can still try it. Experiment! Get messy, make mistakes...it won't be that bad.

Somerschool has begun, and the first lesson is Using RSS Feeds. An RSS feed allows a user who has subscribed to your feed to view your headlines (titles), posts, or summaires, at a site the user has chosen- which then compiles all the feeds subscribed to, into one place. There is nothing displayed by your site feed that is not already on your blog.

Bloglines is one such compiling site: free, easy to use. You can look through their website without signing up if you first want to learn more about their service. They offer other services, like blog searching, really handy…all free.

I know you are thinking, “I don’t need another website to manage,” and, “I get the same thing when I use my HSB Friends link.”

Let me use my husband as an example: 

He is a scientist. They go to conferences in order to share ideas and current research. The big draw, like most conferences, is seeing your favorite folks in the business. Well, what if those people blogged their thoughts, projects, etc. all year long? A blogger is doing that.

Now there is a community where all those people can read one another’s thoughts, and you get to hand-pick which ones you are going to read. Everyone else can read them on a global basis, including yours, and you can all comment to each other. It is a daily conference in a box. (I don’t know why everybody doesn’t blog, each profession.)

Well, each blog is like a newspage from a person. Do you have time to pick up each newspage and look it through it? Would you like it all compiled in one place? This is useful if the minds you want to read do not blog specifically on HSB.

If you sign up at a place like Bloglines, add the URL of the first site you’d like to keep track of, and see how it all works. The news they have there is very informative for using and understanding the site and its features. You can start small and add as you go.

You can create for yourself your own newspaper, off the internet, providing the site you want has as RSS Feed. I have invested some time today in setting up my individualized, personal newspaper of tomorrow.

View the incoming of the people you want to read in one place. THAT is time-saving!