Chapter one like in all other books was a brief introduction into what we would learn from reading the book. It touched on what the journalism industry is doing to keep up with all the advances in technology.
The key topic that jumped out to me was the influence of RSS feeds to journalists. Many journalism students are subscribing to RSS feeds to keep up with their favorite writers and/or interests.
It may sound odd, but I am not a passionate RSS feed subscriber. Here is why:
• I browse around so much on the Internet that I do not really have a particular writer I prefer. I look for what I need to find and then read about it.
• Like everyone else, what is news to me may not be news to someone else. If the Philadelphia Flyers win a critical game or make a monumental trade, I am reading about it. If it is about how another writer is complaining that nothing is getting done in Washington, I want nothing to do with it.
• It comes off as lazy to me. It takes less than a minute to locate what you want to find on the Internet. Instead, if the writer writes something, it is automatically sent to you.
I am obviously in the minority on this, but I still am unconvinced how great a tool RSS is after reading the chapter.