Gaming

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I think that gaming has great potential as a learning tool. Role playing games teach social skills as well as problem solving skills. Many of the games that are played online use puzzles and word problems as part of the play which are excellent for building brain power. My son has been heavily involved in a role playing game on-line and has learned the basics of running a business through this game. He has also benefited by meeting people from all over the world. The one drawback to gaming is that it can become addictive. I suspect it is a lot healthier than many of the other addictions we are prone to, however.

RSS

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RSS is an excellent tool for keeping track of the changing information on the internet. While I have no use for it at the moment, I could see using it for gathering information on a long term project or keeping track of what is happening in a particular field of interest. I see it as most useful for someone who is in a position like Gail’s where keeping track of information from many sources is paramount. In a library, it could be useful for keeping track of information such as the latest booklists. The time saving aspect of RSS is a very attractive feature. I avoid belonging to many groups on the net because of all the time wasted going to multiple sites and signing in only to find that there is nothing new or getting bogged down trying to figure out where the new information starts. RSS eliminates these time wasters and makes joining groups on the internet more attractive.