Bobo23 has an article about a technique called Incremental Reading (found via Lifehack). The general methodology is a way to control the feeling of being overwhelmed by a mass of reading material. While the article does mention digital text, the methodology supposedly works for print.

The writer also implies that the methodology applies to RSS, especially if you use a piece of software called SuperMemo (links at Bobo23). However, based on the description given, I'm not so sure the software would improve the consumption of RSS feeds.

The plain fact is that each RSS subscriber has their own preferred method of consuming web feeds. Robert Scoble reads 700 feeds daily and prefers full-text. The Performancing boys say they have to monitor at least 500 member feeds daily. That's a lotta of information.

My own feed consumption varies daily, from no feeds at all (overload) to up to 100 on the craziest days. It usually rounds out at about 15-25 feeds regularly. But depending on why I'm consuming feeds on a given day, I may use multiple RSS readers, each with its own subscription list.

Regardless, I find that it's actually rather simple to implement the Incremental Learning methodology, at its most basic, using RSS feeds, without the aid of any extra software. However, the process I'm about to describe would be even better if RSS readers had a way to bookmark/ feedmark a headline, for later consumption.

Even without a way to bookmark feed headlines, you can still easily consume web feeds. Just make sure that you have an easy to use feed reader. I tend to prefer either a standalone reader, or the Newsfox plugin for the Firefox browser.

The process is simple, and you're probably using a variation of it already. Click on one of your feeds (or folders, if your reader lets you group feeds) and start browsing the headlines. Anything excerpt that doesn't interest you, you can delete IMMEDIATELY. If you don't delete, it'll just sit there. Probably forever. Go through your entire feed. Just be careful, as once you delete an item, it's generally gone for good, depending on the feed reader. Refreshing your channel usually won't bring it back.

Repeat this process for each of the remaining feeds in your list. Later, when you're good and ready, you can read the full text of the remaining headlines. If you now start reading an article which doesn't interest you, you can delete it. If you don't have time to read all of your articles, delete those that you've finished and summarized elsewhere, if necessary. (I'd recommend using the Performancing extension for the Firefox browser, which apparently will eventually be ported to the IE browser, probably V7.x.)

You can come back later in the day, week, or month to read other items, when you have more time, or when its more appropriate for you. But this process works best if you are consuming partial-text web feeds, usually on a standalone RSS reader. Having full-text feeds overwhelms the senses of most people, and it just isn't conducive to incremental learning.

Now you see one of the primary reasons why I don't like full-text feeds. However, you have to do what works for you. Some people just find full-text works better for them. Personally, I'd pull my hair out if I had to read my web feeds that way.

Keep in mind that I'm a person who once speed-read at least 15-25 full editions of newspapers, 2-4 novels, and one non-fiction book, weekly. Plus, *ahem*, 40-60 comic books monthly - before I decided I wasn't going to try for a career in comic book drawing and writing. So I'm no stranger to massive information consumption. (But this was before the Internet, before I sat on my duff online 7 days a week.)

I've also tried email summaries, for example Google Alerts. But they're really annoying and time consuming in this form. I'm really hoping that, for productivity's sake, Google adds RSS feeds to their delivery options. Due to this lack, I have approximately 2000 emails, each containing 1 or more article summaries, which I haven't touched. These accumulate at the rate of about 30-50 per day. I really dislike the email format. RSS just makes it easier to incrementally manage large quantities of information.

>> Raj Kumar Dash, http://www.chameleonintegration.com/

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