Fight Information Overload With News That Comes To You

Technology has turned "information overload" into a a common complaint. There's just too much--too many word-processor produced letters, too many e-mails (especially the spam), too many web sites, too much information. This site offers a way to get some relief through a cutting-edge technology called RSS.

Variously referred to as "Rich Site Summary," or "Really Simple Syndication," RSS is a way of inserting special customizable codes into files to make them easier for computers to process. Each new posting on this site is available in RSS format, via the button in the left hand column.

To use the RSS "feed," as it is called, you need a program called a "news reader" or sometimes "news aggregator." These can be online, like Bloglines, or installed as a separate program on your PC. (I'm using a program called FeedDemon, but many others are available, some free).

RSS was first popularized by weblogs, AKA blogs. Sophisticated mainstream sites like the New York Times and the Washington Post are turning to RSS because it is such an efficient way of distributing information. For example, here is the RSS feed for Stephen Barr's popular Federal Diary column.

This new technology is great, but one cautionary note: Using a news reader to keep track of one web site only would offer litttle, if any time savings. The benefit is making it easy to keep track of updates at multiple web sites.

This summary just scratches the surface. Here are a few of the places more information is available:

• The Washington Post has an explanation of RSS and a list of some of their most popular feeds.
• An ABA's Law Practice magazine article by St. Louis-based lawyer and legal technology consultant Dennis Kennedycalled Beating Information Overload with News Aggregators explains why RSS is a "life altering technology."
• Rory Perry, the Clerk of the West Virginia Supreme Court, is a national leader in using RSS to distribute government information. He has posted an article about weblogs and RSS at the court's web site. It has a good bibliography, including a couple of articles by IEC Journal contributor Jerry Lawson.