So I’m kicking off a new recurring “column” (and I use the term loosely) called “Ask Skeptic’s Mom” in which I will ask my mother a question related to Web 2.0, and we’ll see what she has to say.  The rules we’ve agreed to are as follows:

1. She gets 2 minutes to try to look up a term and come back with a response of some kind.
2. She then gets 30 more minutes (if she wants, she does have a life, so no guarantees on the followup) to further research the topic and answer the question.
3. While I can interrupt paragraphs and whatnot, the answer she provides goes verbatim, no ‘tweaking’ by me.

One other important thing - my mom is no slouch and uses technology in her life.  She has a laptop, a wifi home network (yeah, I installed that), a TiVo, surround sound, uh, and, uhm, well, a microwave (although it just broke, so I guess that doesn’t count).  She also knows about blogs, plays online games, and has never even come close to falling for a Nigerian scam (nope, she’s no Mary Winkler)!

So, today’s question was, “Mom, what is RSS and what is it used for?”

You asked me what RSS is.

Well, my first response is that I just don’t have a clue. In today’s world
it could be a disease…as in “I have RSS and nobody believes that it’s a
real illness; but I just don’t have any energy”. It could be someone’s
initials. I don’t know!!

So I googled it and I still just don’t have a clue. I didn’t understand the
first paragraph, got totally bored because there are words in there that
mean nothing to anyone who hasn’t heard of RSS.

The answer to your question: I just don’t have a clue!

Thanks Mom! 

Anyone is free to suggest future topics for Mom to address by leaving a comment here.