The answer to e-mail overload
Ron Miller, writing in the March issue of EContent magazine, asks the question "Can RSS Relieve Information Overload?" and proceeds to make a persuasive case that it is the answer. The argument is compelling: RSS is a way to eliminate the opportunity for spamming, and most importantly feeds information only to those who subscribe to its release. I have been using NewsGator as an aggregator to read RSS feeds from multiple high-level organizations such as the New York Times, InfoWorld and other news organizations in addition to the most interesting blogs, and it is truly a useful alternative to classical e-mail-based mailing lists and listservs. If for no other reason, this approach aggregates the news you want to read from multiple sources, in effect creating your own tailored e-news page. Instead of going to multiple web sites to see what is new, they all come to you in one place, but only when there has been news made or a post in the case of blogs.
Numerous government agencies from Florida to California have found out how useful this technology is, and although there are competing standards, they are similar enough to not bother the average user in subscribing. (See the post on March 10, 2004 regarding some of the latest applications.) A dialog to achieve further standardization is underway, and this technology has all the makings of a paradigm shift as more and more companies and agencies find out how useful it is.
9:41:12 PM 
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