THOUGHTS ON RSS

Effects on Personal Life : Provide fast access to latest information on topics or networks of personal interest; negating the need for individual searches.

Effects on Work life : Disseminate current information on trends in the industry and news relating to that industry.

Relevance to the Library : Provide current information on library technology, news and world events, best seller lists, innovations in library services and trends in the industry.

RSS feeds would keep the Library at the forefront of current information and technology,expediently satisfying staff and customer needs.

Executive Summary

Four basic developments in on-line world in past few years.

1.Decline in cost of media distribution - due to digitization and broadband.

2. Rise of user generated content"participatory media" exemplified by success of web-sites such as "Myspace" and " You Tube".

3.Rise of sharing - deliberately (through Wikis) or involuntarily.

4.Organization of information is changing - from hierarchy of information ( taxonomy) to categorization of on-line by web-users (web pages, photographs and links for themselves).