Newsfeed for Wikileaks

Because I am focusing on rights to information and knowledge for my research project I have added Wikileaks on Twitter to my RSS feeds. Compared to the suppression of the Pentagon Papers in the 1960s, Wikileaks has published information about the war in the Middle East.

What is different about the release of the Pentagon Papers and the information contained at Wikileaks is that the war in Vietnam was almost over when the Pentagon Papers were released. Opinions and pundits are state that Wikileaks is releasing real-time information that endangers US and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the sources used for developing strategies to bring the conflict to an end.

I hope to be able to utilize the newsfeed to gain a better understanding of the public’s right to know as well as develop a context of what our responsibilities are as stewards or guardians of information.

How Are We Relating To Our Computers?

Looking through my RSS feeds this week, I came upon a very interesting transcript from the radio show Talk of the Nation on NPR. During the show, Clifford Nass who is a professor at Stanford University spoke about his research on how humans interact with their computers. Nass is also the author of the book The Man Who Lied to His Laptop.

In this discussion, Nass brings up very valuable points about how we as humans are relating to our computers on a social level. Most of this discussion, in particular, discusses how people relate to their car’s GPS. One of the questions he asked was “how many of us yell at our GPS?” I found this especially funny, since I, too, just this morning yelled at my computer for being way too slow. Nass explains further how his research shows that we are all relating to our computers on a more personal level. It seems that some of us are forgetting that these are simply machines and have no mind of their own.

During his studies done on car GPS systems, it was shown how these computers really catch a lot of our frustrations. Many people found themselves yelling at their GPS if incorrect directions were given. Another interesting point brought out was that in Germany, carmakers would not use the voice of females on the GPS. Germans did not want to take directions given by women. Even after it was explained that women were not really giving directions to them, they still insisted that the voice be changed. When it comes to a happy GPS vs. a sad GPS, happy people seemed to prefer the happy voice and upset, angry drivers preferred the sad voice.

Overall, this was a great show topic and I felt it relates well to the information that we are discussing in class. We are surrounded by all of this technology and it is interesting to see how we as humans are relating to it. To listen to or read the entire transcript, go to:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129629756&ft=1&f=1049

RSS Feeds

I am currently following three RSS feeds; NPR news, NPR law and CNN technology. This is the first time I have used RSS feeds and I must say that I regularly find valuable information on all three feeds. According to a recent CNN technology feed, I learned that about 20% of all malicious internet activity in the world originates in the U.S. In another feed I learned that facebook is testing a new panic button. This has been a great way to keep up with current events by following NPR as well. In addition, I really like that the feeds do not crowd up my inbox. The easy access on Google reader is a great way to keep up with your feeds. I will certainly continue to follow feeds well beyond this course.

Following RSS Feeds

How was RSS kept a secret from me for so long? I cannot tell you which RSS feed that I follow daily, because I have switched my focus daily. Sometimes I change several times a day. The RSS feed I am following at this moment is the Winston-Salem Journal. I feel slightly voyeuristic actually. I feel as though I am viewing my hometown throw a keyhole. I can see them, but they cannot see me. I see where a new NC rule allows pets to join patio dining. Ehew! I don’t like it. I accepted this in Paris. Actually there, it is kinda CICK! I am going to have to see how this one plays out. - Danyale

RSS:NPR

Since playing with RSS feeds in class last week, I've been trying to select a favorite from among several good options: NPR, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. I've come to the decision not to pick one, but follow all three, finding components of each to be useful.

NPR is a great generalist feed, supplying political, economic, and general interest news from around the globe. For example, the streem I've recieved just now includes religion, sports, and a report on the jobs outlook. I find The Washington Post to be particularly useful for US-centered information, e.g. international stories tend to be reported from the point of view of effect to the US. The Wall Street Journal is, by nature, extremly useful as a source of business and investing news, and I can't think of a feed I'd rather use in this regard. I also find that the 'Journal' and the 'Post' tend to offer a fair amount of political opposition to each other, which, as sort of a centrist, I find entertaining.

Harvard Business Review & Consumer Reports RSS Feeds

I chose two RSS Feeds that I found to be very interesting.

The first RSS Feed that I chose was The Harvard Business Review. Some articles/podcasts that I found interesting were “Managing the Older Worker,” “For a Better Career Outlook, Look Inward,” “Are These the Economy’s Good Old Days?” and “How to Sell an Idea to Your Boss.” You don’t have to be a business owner or manager to gain insight from these articles and podcasts. I look forward to seeing these RSS Feeds in my inbox and putting the information they provide to use in my career.

The Harvard Business Review: http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/harvardbusiness

The second RSS Feed that I chose was Consumer Reports. You can make a custom feed including some or all of the following topics: Cars, Safety, Babies, Home, Electronics, Press Room, What’s New, Best New Car Deals, Health, Money, and Radio Podcast. I picked a few of these topics that I found to be the most interesting so that I can keep up with the best and current products on the market.

Consumer Reports: http://simplefeed.consumerreports.org/f/100003s2g9osog06fk0.rss

My RSS feeds...

Prior to our class last Friday night, I was unaware of RSS feeds. Wow, this simplifies my life. I have always tuned into different websites for different sources of newsworthy information. Now I have it all at my fingertips. Organized in one place with the issues/topics I am interested in. I subscribe to 3 RSS feeds. The first being the Economist. The Economist delivers daily news and views to me. It includes world news, politics , business and finance. All of which keep me informed of what is going on in the world and how it may affect me politically and financially. It also informs me of subjects of matter that may mean something to me globally. I also subscribe to NPR and receive information on Digital life. I found it interesting that Steve Jobs unveiled a new line of Apple T.V. and ipods. Apple never stops when it comes to being the innovators of technology. I will be interested to see how the ipods will become hot items at Christmastime. It is always fascinating at the rush in the Apple stores to purchase the new product. Now I am aware of the new product and will have to stay tuned in. I also love the fact that I can tune into NPR in the car on my radio if I didn't have time to sign-in online. The third RSS feed I am subscribed to is the WSJ technology feed. I discovered this week that Samsung is introducing a rival product to that of Apple's ipad. I see the ipad all of the time on the plane. I love seeing how a rival will do in comparison. I think we should have a choice in society as a consumer. It benefit's us if there is not a monopoly when it comes to products and service. There are many opinions that the WSJ is the most up to date streaming information. I thought it was a good idea to subscribe to it, if indeed, it is the most up to date and current feed. I enjoy reading the paper copy as well. Thanks again to the Knowledge Management instructors for informing me of another tool to utilize in order to get informed.

Information Isn't Knowledge

As we were discussing Information and Knowledge in class last week -- this showed up on one of my library news feeds -- and I couldn't resist sharing...

Information Isn't Knowledge

from LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News - Librarian And by StephenK

Andrew Orlowski at The Register discusses the Wikileaks situation. A key point made is that data alone is useless without contextualization. A key quote from the piece:

The nature of news and journalism hasn't really changed. We want the world explained, the dots joined, and factoids are a poor substitute, no matter how sensational the trappings. We know that information isn't knowledge, and sometimes barely causes a ripple.

The current sites that I like to use when I'm online are the pregnancy websites.  My favorite site is The Pregnancy Center-Web MD.   I've added that and some other maternity sites to my reader.   Even though I am now pregnant with my fifth child, I still love to find out how my baby is growing and changing.  The Web Md website answers all of my concerns or questions if I'm not able to reach my doctor.  The information from this site is awesome for anyone who is expecting or is planning to become a new parent.  

My RSS feed

I have chosen to follow several RSS feeds, NPR, Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia News) Slate and D-Listed (not for academic purposes). I will be honest the RSS feed is overwhelming and distracting for me but, I am giving it a chance. I do prefer my NPR radio and Podcasts to RSS. I wish that the synopses that are provided were a little longer and more detailed. In most cases, I find that I have to actually click on the link and read the article.

This is something I found via my Slate RSS feed and would like to share with the group.

Why killing "criminals" with drones is a war crime.

http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=98e75a9b85822516ecaa8cf554fa2f70

I found this article via Google reader on Slate. The title of the article attracted me because I have only heard positive things about drones, and I wanted know what some of the down sides could be. This article has brought up some ideas that I hadn’t previously considered. I think the author does go too far in some places (Drone porn) but, I think the article is still worth reviewing.

“while the "counterterrorist" drones may well create more terrorists than they kill. Americans have a penchant for believing there is a solution to every big problem—"solutionism" it's been called. But here all the options are infeasible or bad. And so naturally we avert our eyes and hope the whole thing will go away.” Slate, Rosenbaum

Extra Extra Read all about My RSS Feeds!!!

I'm so excited to to share my RSS feeds. I had never heard of an RSS feed until the other day in class; My eyebrow raised when the instructor asked who knew what an RSS feed was. Despite the fact its only been about a week I have become addicted to my RSS feeds. I couldn't wait to get home to log on and start subscribing to these free feeds. My feeds are currently connected to my yahoo account, I have subscribed to WSJ.com Technology this wasn't my first choice for feeds because I have no knowledge of stocks or the stock market for that matter; all I know is what goes up must come down, just to add a little humor in there, I digress. My knowledge in Wall Street is very minimal I subscribed to this feed to gain some insight on what I do not know by subscribing to this feed I would like to be able to one day follow the stock market or be able to find it interesting to chime in on a conversation that someone is having about the WSJ and be able to add my commentary on it and sound educated. My next Yahoo Feed that I have subscribed to is something I feel more comfortable reading and have a little bit more knowledge of and that is Yahoo Personal Technology; here in this feed I recieve news on why Verizion is selling smartphones with only a pre paid services agreement. Here in the world of the mighty web we need to stay abreast of what's going on I believe this feed will indeed keep me knowledgeable of whats in the "know" of new technology. The last feed I wish to share but certainly not the last feed I will subscribe to, is the Fashion News feed, I feel passionate about this feed because as I stated in my autobiographical questionnaire my favorite pastime is shopping shopping and more shopping. I like seeing what's in style and knowing which celebrity open a new boutique or launched their own clothing line. I am glad I was introduced to the RSS feeds, this has definitely interest me to add more and has made it better for me to stay on top of news and interesting topics as I read my e-mail. I look forward to seeing what RSS feeds my fellow classmates have subcribed to.

RSS Feed

I have chosen several RSS feeds for my Google Reader account. My top two choices currently are from Black Enterprise magazine. I have chosen both an RSS feed from their Small Business and Personal Finance sections. I the future I look forward to opening a new business and buying a home. I felt like these two would benefit me most, in terms of my personal development and growth.

I am pleased to have been introduced to the reader. I feel like I can choose as many feeds I want and still be able to manage them in an effective manner, as to not lose out on any information. From advice about saving to ideas on getting funding and organizing a new business; I have truly found a way to receive information without having to wait for a monthly subscription.

Progress-Index

I chose my RSS feed (among the many others that I already get) to be that of the Progress-Index. It is a small newspaper for the City of Petersburg. I was a police officer there for 5 years, and although they do provide many national news updates, they also have local news involving a lot of people that I know and care about. I also wanted to select one that would not be so readily used by everyone else in the class. Another pull for me, with this RSS feed, is that the area is rich with history from the Revolutionary and Civil War eras, and they tend to post significant dates, battles, artifact discoveries and other such historical information.

Top RSS Feeds

If you're still searching for an RSS feed, Bloglines (a free news aggregator) lists its top RSS / blog feeds @ http://www.bloglines.com/topblogs

You're also able there to view the newest feeds -- or search by subject area: http://www.bloglines.com/subbundles

While I now use Google Reader -- Bloglines was the aggregator I started with, but have found the more I can keep everything together -- which Google now does nicely through its iGoogle application -- it's easier to browse through more information at once. It does sound like part of the Google making me stupid problem, doesn't it! More and more information -- but shorter and shorter attention spans to be able to concentrate and read deeply...

A breath of Fresh Air on NPR

I chose NPR's Fresh Air. I listen to NPR every day on my way to and from work, which is actually a short drive. It's rare that actually get to listen to Fresh Air but it always features something engaging and usually it's a fairly light topic. When logging on this morning, there were several stories on country music and the giants of the genre - Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson - and a few lesser known artists like Jimmy Dale Gilmore.
I enjoy the off-beat lesser known news items that are featured on Fresh Air, and with so much bad news in the world these days, it's nice to hear about something that's just interesting rather than earth shattering.

RSS feed - a few things.

There are a few blogs I check religiously, and when Google Reader was introduced to me in class (I had heard about it before but never tried it), I instantly became hooked on and fascinated by the idea of being able to view all of your important information in one place. I have since subscribed to several feeds, but will only mention a few here.

McSweeney's is probably my favorite feed; it's the one I absolutely must check every day and I usually find time to read through most or all of the articles and snippets. McSweeney's is a literary magazine and the content posted online is generally humorous, something that I appreciate as it helps to break apart my day. Just earlier I read a hilarious passage 'written' by the font Comic Sans, which I then posted to Facebook and emailed around to a few friends.

Another one of my favorites is a music/entertainment blog called MFR. There are two reasons I love this feed - one, the writers of the blog are located in my hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and they post about local shows and artists, which makes me feel a little closer to home. Two, they are always posting songs that I love way before the albums are released, so I can stay on top of the music scene, which is a pretty large part of my life. Yesterday I stumbled across a link to this website - thewildernessdowntown.com - which is an interactive music video created by a programmer/designer who partnered with Google. You enter in an address (it suggests the address of the home you grew up in) and using Google Maps, the video incorporates a satellite view of your street/home. It is REALLY COOL. I suggest checking it out!

Another feed that really interests me is NPR's All Things Considered. I listen to NPR but rarely visit the website; it wasn't until we were given the Google Reader assignment that I decided to check it out. I like All Things Considered because it covers a wide variety of interesting topics that I may have not otherwise looked into.

RSS FEED CHOICE-NPR

I chose National Public Radio because it is my favorite radio station. They don't have commercials. I just expanded that to getting their news in my google reader as well. The story that got my attention this week is from the technology world. On August 31, 2010 Google launched a new tool for their G-Mail. The headline reads "Google Unveils System for Prioritizing E-Mail". This new tool will sort your email for you and prioritize it by importance. Sounds good on paper but it may be a little too "Big Brother" for me. Read the story and decide for yourself. The link is listed below.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129537105

RSS: Technology News - The New York Times

I should have probably chosen something outside of my career. I already receive daily, or weekly, emails from Tech Recipes and Tech Republic. So the majority of information is being repeated in articles being sent to my Google Reader.

I also receive several email alerts from NBC12.com and CNN.com. I had to filter these back to my personal email account as it became too distracting throughout my work day. I find that too many emails and feeds are overwhelming. I’ve actually been thinking about unsubscribing from several of them. And one of the biggest reasons is that I don’t have the time I once did to read the articles I do save. I have over 300 emails I have sent myself with links of things I want to read. They date back to 2007. And what’s worse, most of the links probably aren’t active anymore! Kim
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/

RSS: Knowledge@Wharton

I decided my RSS feed would be from the website Knowledge@Wharton. The website is from Wharton University of Pennsylvania. The website is a business website and post interesting information on subjects such as Finance and Investments, Marketing, Human Resources and Law and Public Policy just to name a few. Interesting I guess to me because I like business websites.

I found the information I see from the feed peeks my interest and I go out to the website and do a little more research. I have not had time available this week to do a whole lot of research trying to read the articles assigned and extremely busy at work.

Our Internet usage is monitored very closely at work so I cannot go out to Reader Google for any length of time however, after some of the feeds I might sign up to have emails sent to me at work.

This is my first request for a RSS feed I found it kind of fun. I decided to get a couple other ones but those are just for my entertainment.

What are people in academia reading for fun?

This is (more or less) the question that the Chronicle of Higher Education's PageView blog seeks to answer. It's instructive - and fun, like getting a sneak peek into someone's mind. (I am always aware of what my reading list must look like whenever I check out books from the library, because I read so widely, or randomly!)

Yesterday's interview was with Martha Nussbaum, author (most recently) of Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (2010). She's a busy lady ("professor in the philosophy department, law school, divinity school, and the college at the University of Chicago") but finds time to listen to James Joyce's Ulysses (probably one of the densest works ever written) while running -my hero!

Google Reader: My New Addiction

I really thought up was up to date with technology. I receive multiple emails from The Richmond Times Dispatch and The Washington Post every day. While I’m getting ready for work The Richmond Times sends me text messages with the weather for the day, what the headlines are and what the traffic is like.

I never knew about readers. I am finding Google reader to be one the most fun and addictive new websites I have been to in a while. It is hard for me to not subscribe to many more feeds than I will ever be able to read.

I chose Healthcare IT News as the one I will follow for this class. I always need to know what’s new in the broad field of health care. After a day or two, I realized there had not been a new post since 07/09/10, so I thought I would look around for a more active site.

I found many related to health care. NPR had a subtopic of Health. There is also one called The Health Care Blog. I had no idea Blue Cross Blue Shield had a feed of their own. Of course I had to subscribe to them all.

I also subscribed to some fun ones too. OED and Urban Word of the Day will send you a new word each day. My favorite so far is Tanorexia.

RSS Feed - NPR (Business)

While I currently am subscribed to RSS feeds from MSNBC News, for this class I will also follow feeds from NPR. NPR offered a variety of topics to choose from and I have selected the business category which will keep me up-to-date on the latest news from reports on Wall Street to the world financial markets. Once I linked the RSS feed to my MSN email account, which I view through Outlook, the very first story caught my attention talking about a 10 year low in construction spending. This story hits home because my husband recently started a general contracting company and despite the current economic conditions we have been fortunate enough to remain busy. After reading the article the decline is related more towards residential construction and not commercial, which collaborates with our current situation.

Throughout this course, I will tend to follow the stories on NPR that relate to something I have a direct interest in or an area that I am curious to learn more about. The link to NPR is http://www.npr.org/rss/.

empathic civilization

I chose the empathic civilization as my topic because it intrigued me.  Jeremy Rifkin is explaining why humans do what they do.  He is teaching how our emotions trigger what we do and how we behave.  I am fascinated to listen to his ideas and comments on the psychology of the mind because my degree and educational journey will ultimately lead me to become a counselor.