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