Stop the Insanity:
Keeping Current in the (Too Much) Information Age
By Jeff Mason, Client Services Librarian
RQHR Health Sciences Library, Aug. 16, 2007
Goal
• Show you how to stay current, quickly– RSS, and RSS aggregators– Podcasts– Where to look– How to subscribe
Importance of Being Current
• Responsibility of any profession– Particularly true in healthcare– Maintain expertise
• Involves– Reviewing the literature
• Periodically and Systematically
– Critical appraisal– Making time
Too Much Information
• Over 15 million articles in PubMed.• 10,000-20,000 added each week.• Alper et al (2004)
– ~627.5/month to stay current• Only 720 hours in a 30 day month!
• Popular media– Picks up 2-20 health related stories/day
RSS
• Many definitions– Really Simple Syndication
• Means of distribution• Increasingly available
– Blogs– Journals– Other websites (news services)
How RSS Works
• Refers to how content is distributed– Not the content itself
• Need a program to collect the content– RSS Aggregator
• Google Reader• Bloglines• Browser-based
• View partial or complete content via the aggregator
Podcasts
• RSS with Audio/Video• Most often downloaded to your
computer• Need Podcast client • Listen
– On computer– On a portable music player (e.g. iPod)
• Variety of content– Amateur Professional
Where to Find RSS Feeds
• News websites– CTV Health News– CBC Health News
• Government sites– Statistics Canada– CDC
• Journal websites– NEJM
How to Subscribe to RSS
1. Choose an aggregator2. Choose some content
• Look for RSS/XML links• News• Government• Journals• PubMed
3. Create feeds 4. Add to aggregator
Subscribing to Podcasts
• Choose a Podcast Client• Many/most subscribe to via iTunes
– Search iTunes– Use links from content provider
• Look for Podcast icon– NEJM– JAMA– Lancet
RSS Resources
• Aggregators– Google Reader:
http://www.google.com/reader– Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com
• News Feeds– CTV:
http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/freeheadlines/freeFeed.html
– CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/rss/
RSS Resources (2)
• Journal Table of Contents– New England Journal of Medicine:
http://content.nejm.org/rss/– The Lancet:
http://www.thelancet.com/online/rss
RSS Resources (3)
• Search Feeds– PubMed
• Do your search• Choose the “Send to” drop down menu• Choose “RSS” Feed• Choose how many items in the feed• Cut and paste the “XML” link into your
aggregator.
– You can also create feeds from Ebsco databases/journals.
Podcasting Resources
• Podcast Clients– iTunes:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/– Others:
http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html
Podcasting Resources (2)
• Journals– JAMA:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/misc/audiocommentary.dtl
– The Lancet: http://www.thelancet.com/online/audio
– New England Journal of Medicine: http://content.nejm.org/misc/podcast.shtml
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