RSS Blog Assignment 1

The most difficult part of this assignment was finding instructional materials that related to my personal and professional interests. However, the search process was expedited through the use of aggregator software tools provided by Google Reader, iGoogle, and Apple iTunes. Using descriptive RSS tags I was able to conduct a comprehensive search of information relating to photography, audio/ video editing, and electronic music production.


Google Reader was designated as the main repository for blogs that I subscribed to. Informative blogs generated by Emerging Technology classmates, Steve Hargadon, Cool Cat Teacher, Weblogg-edu, Two Cents Worth, Edu Blogs, and The Apple Blog were selected for inclusion on my site. Site management tools embedded in Google reader enabled me to find blog- related sites created by friends, classmates, colleagues, and practitioners in my field of study. Having these sites in one location enabled quick access to a myriad of information from multiple sources.


The iGoogle site was customized to my specifications and populated with a variety of news, technology, consumer, and music-related resources. In an effort to streamline operations, I spent several hours locating and organizing digital resources related to my interests. Although this process was very time-consuming, I felt the effort would help me with subsequent searches for up to date information. Category tabs for news, technology, jobs, education, podcast, and music related sites were created in order to
organize my data. Using embedded tools I was able to subscribe to RSS feeds from the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Fox News, BBC News, Reuters, National Public Radio (NPR), Apple Computer, MacWorld, Canon, Sony, Nikon,
FLOSS Weekly, TEDTalks, Jazz Guitar, and Harmony Central.


In addition, these efforts led me to a search of audio and video-based podcasts that could be downloaded into my iTunes directory. My search produced feeds from EdTechLive (Steve Hargadon), David Warlick, and Howard Reingold's Vlog site. Using RSS descriptive tags I was able to locate video podcast tutorials related to Adobe Captivate and Acoustic Guitar techniques. These tutorials will be invaluable in helping me understand computer processes and guitar-based instructional techniques. The most significant find in my search was an audio podcast series produced by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. Each of these podcast recordings were immediately downloaded to my iPod. Way Cool!