Productivity

Seth Godin posted a simple quiz to see how much you are using technology to improve your effectiveness as a knowledge-based worker. He likens not knowing these things to being someone who works in a factory that processes metal and not being able to operate a blow torch.

A similar list he put out a while ago got me to look into what an `RSS' feed is. To be honest, I thought it was cool at the time, but didn't really use it much. Today's discovery however I think is far better and something I will use, and hope that my friends will too.

Ease of use.

Going with my inertia discussion, no matter how useful something is... I think most people don't use things unless they are easy. Del.ico.us is a cool idea, but I have been next to useless at actually using it. Partly because I have been hopping from computer to computer that has not been set up to use it.

Google Reader is easy to use, and basically takes all the stuff you want to read on a regular basis and puts it in one place, much like an online email box.

You can share your favourite news or blog items with just a click... hence the box on the right of my blog now that shows my shared posts.

You can also see the shared items of friends of yours.

I am very aware that I only really started using blogging, and RSS and being interested in all this technology stuff very recently, and this post makes me seem like some sort of technophile...

but, it isn't the technology that interests me so much as how easy it is becoming to share ideas. The Internet has a lot of stuff, and a lot of it is really bad quality, but if we are able to help each other sort through the rubbish and point out the gems, and the Internet becomes more of a conversation that just a source of information...

then it won't be the `information age' or even the `age of ideas' but the `communication age'.

The end of silos.

Exciting Times.