Thing #3 -- RSS

You’ve heard of RSS? You’ve seen those small funny tags on websites? You’ve heard co-workers and acquaintances swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is?

In the information world, RSS is not only changing the way news, media and content creators share information, but it also is swiftly changing the way everyday users are consuming information.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web.

Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit every day. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn't it? Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

This week’s discovery exercises focus on learning about RSS news feeds and setting up a Bloglines account (a free online newsreader) for yourself to bring your feeds together.

Discovery Resources:

• Watch the CommonCraft video, RSS in Plain English:

CNET Video: RSS – Feel the Need for Feeds (3:32) – a good over view of what RSS is and the benefits to users.

What is RSS? A good text review of Really Simple Syndication.

Using Bloglines Tutorial (how to keep up with dozens of blogs everyday) – This online tutorial walks you through how to setup a Bloglines account and add newsfeeds. Follow Steps 1 to 3 to set up your Bloglines account. Steps 4 – 9 are optional and cover how to subscribe to different types of feeds (podcasts, Flickr albums, etc).

Homework Activity:

1. Follow the discovery resources above to learn more about RSS and newsreaders.


2. Create a free online Bloglines account for yourself and subscribe to at least ten (10) newsfeeds and blogs to your reader. See Using Bloglines Tutorial steps 1-3 for instructions.


3. Subscribe to several of your class participants' feeds. This is as easy as typing the blog URL into the subscribe field in Bloglines. Try it, it's easy!


4. Create a post in your blog about this exercise. Optional: If you're up to the challenge, you can provide the URL address to your public bloglines account.

Don’t know what to blog about? Think about these questions:

• What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
• How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your work or personal life?
• How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this technology?

If you want more:

1. Set up an account in Google Reader. If you like it better than Blogline, write a post on the differences.
2. Try Pageflakes, Netvibes, or iGoogle. All allow you to set up a homepage whereby you can subscribe to newsfeeds, blogfeeds, and add useful tools to your homepage. This is great way to increase your personal productivity, efficiency, and have all your favorite tools all on one page. You can pull up this web-based homepage from any computer.
3. Everything you every wanted to know about RSS resources: The Ultimate RSS Toolbox - 120+ RSS Resources.
4. Seven Tools for creating a RSS Feed from any Website -- a bit more advanced, but has useful links.