Really Good Technology

I’m quoted in Mansi Bhatia’s article in this semester’s Washington Square, a publication of the SJSU office of Communications and Public Affairs. I assume the magazine goes out to alumni, and is not to be confused with Access, the Journalism & Mass Communications department’s student-produced magazine, which is available all over campus.

The Washington Square article is on RSS feeds, and how the university is using them (although some might argue that there could be a juicier story here about how the university isn’t using them, but that’s irrelevant). Apparently, I said:

“A huge advantage is getting the information in real time. A student who reads three or four pieces of commentary on an issue in his feed-reader just before a class will understand more of the context surrounding the issue than a student who read about it in the newspaper that morning, or saw it on CNN the night before.”

Is that clear enough? Probably not, but it’s what I said. But there’s more to RSS than news. Here’s three feeds that bring me influential people and organizations talking about important things:

Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News anchor, is blogging, and there’s content here, not just mush. This is actual opinion and context regarding the nuts and bolts of putting together a nightly newscast. Here’s the feed.(watch for the Daily Nightly entries)
Hillary Clinton is blogging, along with a whole gang of big-audience-talkers, to raise awareness about breast cancer. Comments are on. Here’s the feed with everyone included.
UNICEF is publishing a news feed.