A few hours ago I posted about creating a page that would compile various “feeds” that would use search terms. Something like that works well for a broader search time like the one I posted about — “teaching EFL & ESL.”

For something more specific, such as wanting to learn when one of my favorite authors (Harry Turtledove, a science fiction writer, for example) is mentioned, or my family’s surname comes-up somewhere, or a particular ESL/EFL education term is written (Picture Word Inductive Model), I like to use Google Alerts. It will notify me by email once a day if the term I specify appears on the Web.

I read in The Wall Street Journal today that in about a month Google will make these alerts available by RSS Readers, which should make it easier to access and, I assume, result in less “wait-time” between the word appearing and learning about it. Google will still, however, send alerts via email if subscribers prefer it that way.