You’ve heard of RSS? You’ve seen those small orange icons on web sites? You’ve heard co-workers and acquaintances swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is? Well, you’re not alone, but others are catching on fast and so should you. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionizing the way news, media and content creators share information, but also is swiftly changing the way everyday users are consuming information. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format (XML) for sharing headlines and other Web content, allowing users to browse headlines with a news-reader or aggregator program. The RSS news-reader or aggregator checks RSS-enabled Web pages and then organizes and displays any new or updated articles that it finds. Aggregators are typically constructed as extensions to a Web browser (such as Mozilla Firefox), as extensions to an email program (such as Microsoft Outlook), or as standalone programs. There are also Web-based RSS aggregators such as My Yahoo or Bloglines that require no software installation and make the user’s RSS feeds available on any computer with Web access.
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Just think about the web sites 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 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.
Resources:
- CNET Video: RSS - Feel the Need for Feeds? (3:32) - a good over view of what RSS is and the benefits to users.
- Feed Me: A gentle introduction to Internet feeds - a good tutorial from the PALINET library cooperative
- 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 - 10 are optional and cover how to subscribe to different types of feeds (podcasts, Flickr albums, etc)
- RSS in Plain English (3:43) (Lee Lefever, Common Craft)
Exercise:
- Use the Resources above to learn more about RSS and newsreaders
- Create a free online Bloglines account for yourself and subscribe to at least 10 newsfeeds. See the Using Bloglines Tutorial for step-by-step instructions.
- Create a post in your blog about this exercise.
Don’t know which RSS feeds to subscribe to? Consider subscribing to:
- Your fellow Learning 2.0 participants’ blogs
- Any of the feeds from the New York Times or NPR
- The Medical Library Association RSS feed
- David Rothman’s Blog
- Becker Medical Library Consumer Health News
- NIH Research Matters
Don’t know what to blog about? Consider 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 new technology?
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