My view of aggregation tools.....

Hi there

I am a "RSS feed fan". If I can call myself that....

Why? Because it saves me time in the first place. Secondly it often leads you to information that you would never have accessed, but because of the RSS feed that brings information 2 you, I have access to it.

I very often do not have enough hours in my day to surf on the net and look for the latest trends and info in my research and teaching areas. I therefore use google reader and sign up to some sites that I know provide valuable info.

Another way of using RSS feeds is by means of the RSS functionality in the LMS. When I design online learning modules I very often include a RSS feed in the module, implying that vital info related to the course content are available for students. E.g. economic indicators for the MBA students.

I also subscribe to RSS feeds via my cellphone. I therefore access news updates via RSS feeds from e.g. BBC world, as my phone acts as the RSS reader.

Apart from all the nice functionalities of aggregation tools, one must remain very careful when subscribing to these sites. RSS feeds might be a bit overwhelming if you subscribe to too many sites and thus receive too many feeds. Managing information in this case can become a burden, rather that being useful.