On why I don't use a news reader

So, last Sunday Marc and I were chatting about newsreaders and sites like Bloglines that helps you read the feeds from various blogs and websites. I commented that I generally don't like to use them.

I mean, I've used them before but I've quit using them.

News readers are about gathering information, getting the latest posting and blog activity. They are about speed and streamlining the process. They kind of generisize (A Friesenism - "to make generic") all the different news and blog feeds so that they appear quite the same. They allow you to scan quickly to see if there is any new information posted on the sites you follow, thus allowing you to cover so much more than you normally could look at.

But I think that that process is a bit sterile. It formats the information to appear the same. It cleans up the data so it's not hard to view. It removes so much of the sites personality and uniqueness.

When I read a site, I want to view the aesthetic values the author includes on the page. I want to see the context in which the post is nested. What's happened before, what does the author read and what interests them. 

When I read the posts from a news reader, I get a generic version of the original post, all cleaned up and easy to read.

I don't feel that the internet is just for raw data information.

The message is also communicated by how it is delivered. It's found within the context of a larger discussion or page, and I want to experience that whole message.

The Internet was originally perfect for information freaks. My first experience with the net was on a local freenet which used a text based program with hyperlinks to travel the net. Text data was king, and you had to be able to read to enjoy the internet.

But surely the net has grown since then. Highspeed and graphics based programs have come along and changed the originally text based format to a variety of choices. Visual images, audio, video all are fighting for their place on the net. And for viewing Blogs, I don't want to sift all the information through a newsreader so that all I experience is text. That would be missing to much.

While I do agree that if I come upon one more blog that plays the theme from the Titanic as background music just because it can, I myself will stick a long sharp pencil up my nose until it tweaks that part of my brain that is able to process audio and all will be quiet forevermore.

But there are some amazing sites out there that simply add to the experience of processing the information the author is trying to communicate.

Nuanced colours, well thought out images, nicely designed code, hard creative choices all communicate the message to me far better than a line of text ever would.

There are sites I go to that do a wonderful job of communicating the feel of the place or person they represent. They somehow are able to transmit on the screen the spirit of the place they speak from. Even if you've never been there before, you can sense what it's about before reading one word of text.

By using a news reader, I think my internet experience would be a lot like Black and White Television with lots of Black and White channels. Boring!

So what I do is use the Firefox browser. I save all the sites I read daily into a folder in bookmarks. All the sites I read weekly I save in a folder called Monday Blogs, again saved in bookmarks. Then when I want to, I go into the folder and move down to the last choice which gives you the chance to open all the sites in tabs and let er rip. All the sites are loaded and I browse through them quite easily.

Firefox also has the Live Bookmarks feature that I've been exploring lately. If I could find a newsreader that would load the pages I want it to load, I would give it a try.

And I should say that I daily use a reader for podcasting. Doppler radio works great for downloading audio programs different people put on the web for downloading and listening to at your leisure.

Just don't shortchange yourself on experiencing what people are trying to communicate to you through words and other forms of language.