What type of creature is an aggregator?

I apologize for the late posting. The heat wave here in St. Louis is wreaking havoc on the power grid.I have been replacing transformers almost daily!!!
As far as our assignment goes ,the RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed is an awesome tool. And as usual, I had no idea that it existed. The aggregator helps us to keep up with new info from our favorite blogs and Webpages and on top of this it enables others to know when you have added something new to your blog or Webpage. Pretty amazing!!!!! I read an article that I thought used a good analogy. Most people who still enjoy reading the newspaper have developed techniques for getting what they want without reading every article or even every headline. Most of us have learned to pick only those sections that interest us and then we scan headlines. When we find a headline that is important to us, we begin to read the article.
Similarly, RSS and other "feeds" allow us to automatically scan the "headlines" from pre-selected Web sources. If the item looks interesting from the headline, we can "click" to get the full article.
I used Google Reader as my aggregator for no other reason than our book recommended it and it was easy.I subscribed to a few classmates blogs, ESPN, US News and World Report, and a very interesting Labor Union feed which I have posted below. It has a story on the graduating class of the NLC and a lot of other useful information for labor enthusiasts.
The educational value of the RSS feeds are endless. Among the benefits would be the ease of sharing information from many sources, the ability to share the task of information publishing, and the simplification of gathering and evaluating information from multiple sources. Feeds could be used in class blogs, school schedule or sports schedules, ability to monitor research, job searches. The list goes on. I realize now I should not have feared this "aggregator" creature.

First Trip to Blogdom!!!!

Yes, That's correct. This is my first attempt at blogging. I have used the wiki before in a previous class and have to admit it was easy to work with, however I had some difficulty when it was time to edit someone else's post on the wiki. I did not mind adding to the other students posts, I just did not feel I had the right to remove their work, considering it was student to student. The wiki does make an excellent collaboration tool especially when working in groups on a particular subject. I have commented on this before but I still like to read the newspaper instead of getting the news on the Internet. For now, the same is true with communicating with others on the Internet: I just don't do it. This is not to say I am against the new technology. I am certainly open to any tool that aids in educating and finding alternative ways of reaching the new generation of working men and women.


To give you an idea on my lack of communication, this month my family had a total of 1,778 text messages. Of these I had 3. As has been the case, this class will prove to be a real learning experience for me. I read an interesting article today that reported that 28% of Americans it interviewed last year said they have been spending less time with members of their households. This number is almost triple what it was in 2006. The article also notes that this coincides with the booming social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, etc... along with the importance people place upon them.Does anyone see this in their own families? I can certainly see it in mine. Even when we are home together, it would seem we are texting or communicating on the computers but not amongst ourselves. http://http//www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/F65EA4DC6164AF10862575D700028BC3?OpenDocument Another tidbit in our book claims that the fastest growing demographic in Facebook is age 35+. At age 44, this figure surprises me. On a positive note, I can also see where this type of application could generate some good feedback on a topic of discussion or maybe even some bad feedback?