Tuesday, November 16, 2004

RSS information overload

Chris Sherman talks about information overload with RSS
    The information overload problem comes from sources that update frequently. Sometimes these sources provide must-read information. However, in many cases, new information may consist of a rambling post, a post on a topic of little interest to you, or worst of all (in my opinion) a post that simply points you to another feed that you're already tracking.
and recommends PubSub as the solution (even though Google News Alerts, Yahoo News, and Feedster all offer similar functionality).

The problem with all these solutions is you still have to go through all the effort of explicitly specifying what you want. You need to enter a bunch of keywords, refine them to narrow down to what you actually want, and then maintain them over time. All but the most dedicated information junkies won't bother.

What's really needed is an automated solution. Something that just figures out what you want. With no effort. Something like this.

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