Culture and Context:
News tools
By Susan Miller
Published on March 13, 2006 - 03:52 AM
I spend a couple hours a day reading news. I read local news, national news, tech news, law news, librarian news, research news, government news, government IT news and the occasional off the wall news story. I started out visiting news Websites I had bookmarked, then I got my news via email, then I cancelled the email news and subscribed to RSS feeds for news and blogs. Still I’m overwhelmed, so I’m always looking for more ways to find what I need in the ocean of what’s out there.
Kevin Kelly (from Wired Magazine) writes that he’s been using consensus Web filters to help him find the newest news. These sites encourage members to vote on news items so that those stories that lots of people have given the thumbs-up to move to the top of the list. It’s a good gauge for buzz.
Of course, there are some caveats. These sites are patronized by the leading edge of the Internet user base – the early adopters – so there’s more personal tech news than industry tech news. You’ll find more about CD piracy, iPods and games and less on the tech industry (with the exception of Google, Apple and Microsoft) on most of these sites.
Kelly’s list has a few words about several of these consensus sites – what kind of news (popular vs. tech), how fast the news moves on and off the top page and how it generally compares to Google or Yahoo news. Two on his list of recommendations I especially liked.
NewsVine’s science thread is the best link for breaking science news, according to Kelly (though you should compare it to Eureka Alert, which has vastly more scientific news from universities and research centers across the globe).
Fantacular is a little like Slashdot in the types of news people find popular (NASA, Linux, programming languages) but it comes without the sarcastic comments.
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