Best Bytes: Maximize Your Effective Uses of Blogs
Posted on December 6, 2010 by jddoyle | 1 Comment
Submitted by Jacque Doyle
If you are reading this, you have found your way into MLGSCA’s new website, MLGSCA Link, which is “way” more than a website. The Link has been created so that you will be able to not only read and learn about the organization, but also contribute to it in real time! We hope that you take advantage of the opportunity to make comments, i.e., complain, question or praise the blog writers who are working to improve communication across our chapter! To comment, just look just beneath the post title for the link that says “No Comments” or “# Comment” and click there to add your own thoughts! And when you find articles or blog posts you think your MLG colleagues would enjoy, share them with our blog coordinator, Kathleen Carlson.
Now that you are following at least this blog, perhaps it is time to expand your horizons.
I am almost embarrassed to admit that I follow A LOT of blogs! However, I have discovered several ways to be purposeful and efficient as I do that.I follow blogs for a number of reasons:
**To stay as current as I can and choose to be, in both medical education and librarianship
**To follow trends in my interests and hobbies (gardening and photography), and,
**To view shared photos with family and friends
I “follow” these blogs using primarily two tools: Google Reader and Bloglines. Which you choose to use becomes quite personal. Early this year, it appeared that Bloglines was going away, so I started looking around for alternatives, and I began to use Google Reader. Since Bloglines was saved, I now use both depending on my need.
One way to comparison shop is to examine their starting pages:
JDsGoogleReader
- JDsBloglines
As you can see, there are similarities and differences. I know Bloglines lets you organize your feeds into folders and I have not yet done that, as are my feeds in Google Reader. I have found that reading blogs, whether they are personal or organizational, i.e., official, to be an excellent way of learning what other people are doing and learn from their experiences. Whatever reader you select, you will find many tricks for maximizing your efficiency. I also use iGoogle as my home page and since I can access that page from any computer, anywhere, I have what I need at my fingertips. This is especially useful when I am away on vacation or at conferences and need quick one-stop access to my email and other utilities, favorite blog feeds and more.
I suspect many readers will have suggestions that are better than mine! What readers do you find effective, or what alternatives means of staying current do you use? Please do submit your comments!
Posted 12/6/10
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One Response to “Best Bytes: Maximize Your Effective Uses of Blogs”
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December 7th, 2010 @ 2:10 pm
Jacque,
Thanks for the education. You’re always on the cutting edge. I’ve made a note to check out Bloglines and GoogleReader.