Cool web tip: Getting a "reader" – bringing web content to you

Do you feel like you are routinely checking various websites to follow up on recent journal publications, reading blogs, catching up on the news? What’s new in Annals of EM or Academic EM? What’s on today’s CNN or EducationPR blogs?

I’m a firm believer that technology should make things streamlined and easier, rather than creating more steps and hassles. I recently discovered online RSS readers on the web. If you don’t have one, you should get one.

Do you feel like you are routinely checking various websites to follow up on recent journal publications, reading blogs, catching up on the news? What’s new in Annals of EM or Academic EM? What’s on today’s CNN or EducationPR blogs?

I’m a firm believer that technology should make things streamlined and easier, rather than creating more steps and hassles. I recently discovered online RSS readers on the web. If you don’t have one, you should get one.

What the heck is a RSS reader?

It’s basically an aggregator service that puts all the sites you are following onto one website. Basically, I think of the various websites as your favorite TV channels and the Reader as a Tivo which has recorded everything for you to browse through or delete at your leisure.

There are various free RSS “readers” available on the Internet. I use Google Reader – which has been pretty user friendly. FYI, I have no financial affiliation with Google (I wish!). You will need a gmail account (free) if you want to use this free service: http://reader.google.com

You basically search and subscribe to “feeds”. In my case above, I subscribe to my own blog, Education PR blog, Annals of EM, Academic EM, JAMA, in addition to a multitude of others. Whenever I log-in to Google Reader, it lets me know of the most recent posts from each of the sites. Pretty cool, right?!

What sites do you read regularly?

Author information

Michelle Lin, MD

ALiEM Founder and CEO
Professor and Digital Innovation Lab Director
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of California, San Francisco

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