RSS Basics - Information Trapping: Real-Time Research on the Web - page 28

Obviously, the fewer traps you have, the easier it is to monitor information
low. At the same time, the fewer traps you have, the more diicult it is to
make sure that most of the results are as relevant as possible to your inter-
ests (I won't say all of the results should be as relevant as possible because
all is an impossible, and therefore inappropriate, quest).
I am most comfortable when I see some repeated stories in the traps I've
set—say 5 percent to 10 percent. his rate assures me that I'm covering my
bases and getting most of what I can possibly get, without having too many
repeats that make it diicult to monitor and act on the data in my traps.
So aim for having just enough overlap between your static feeds, keyword-based
feeds, and monitored pages (more about those in the next chapter). “Compre-
hensive but manageable” is my mantra, as you'll see in later chapters.
Now that you've found all these feeds, you have another problem: read-
ing them. What can you use to actually look at RSS feeds? Well, your Web
browser probably has the chops to read an individual feed, but you want a
power tool—something that lets you comfortably review dozens (possibly
hundreds) of feeds at a time.
RSS Reader Tools
RSS readers fall into two broad categories: tools that let you merely read a
single feed (reformatting it so that a person can comfortably read it) and
tools that let you read and organize several feeds at a time. Your browser
may have the potential to do the irst, and many resources are available for
doing the second.
RSS readers for many diferent platforms are available: palmtops and cell
phones—and even iPods! You can learn more about options for informa-
tion trapping on the go by seeing the bonus chapter on page A1 but for now
let's stick with Windows-based and Mac-based options.