Thing 4 - What is RSS?
As you begin reading more blogs, you may find it difficult to keep up with all the new posts. Or, perhaps your students start blogging -- how will you manage to visit thirty or more different blogs on a daily basis? Fortunately, there is another Web 2.0 technology that has changed the way we receive new online content. It’s called RSS.
Surely you’ve heard of RSS, or at least seen those little orange icons on web sites? Heard of it, but not sure what it is? Don’t feel alone. Some say RSS stands for “rich site summary” while others say it stands for “real simple syndication.” Either way, what matters is that RSS is a cool tool that you need to be using.
RSS, “Really Simple Syndication,” is a way to share information from content creators and news providers. RSS is written in a code (XML) that works behind the scenes for sharing web content with consumers. It allows the subscriber to view updated web content with a “feed reader” (also called an aggregator), without having to visit every single site looking for the new content, by “pushing” the content out to the user. The RSS feed reader checks web sites regularly to which you have subscribed, and then displays content that is new or updated in your feed reader.
RSS feed readers take several forms:
1. Web-based sites (FeedDemon and Google Reader).
2. Delivered to your email inbox (With email software such as Microsoft Outlook, or through Web sites like Feed My Inbox.)
3. Built into Web browsers (Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer)
4. As standalone programs downloaded to your computer (SharpReader or RSSOwl)
Thing 4 will be showing you how Google Reader helps you manage the feeds to which you want to subscribe for regular updates .
After setting up an RSS account, you will subscribe to your favorite blogs and other sites that publish new content on a regular basis (like news headlines). You could subscribe to as many blogs as you like – even hundreds – but then, all you have to do is visit one site and be instantly updated on all that is new on all your favorite blogs.
Watch this video to understand more about how RSS works.
If you can't see the video, click here to watch it on the Common Craft website.
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To complete Thing 4 you must:
A. Create a Google Reader account
B. Identify and locate RSS feeds
C. Search and subscribe to RSS feeds.
D. Organize content in Google Reader folders
E. Reflect on Thing 4 on your blog
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A. Create Your Google Reader Account
Watch the video to learn how to create your RSS account. Then go to Google Reader and get started.
Welcome to Google Reader
B. Locate RSS Feeds
There are several ways you can locate RSS feeds. When visiting your favorite websites, look for the orange icon that indicates the website provides an RSS feed. Often a feed icon will be displayed somewhere in the navigation of the site. The orange square is one type of RSS feed icon. Here are some other RSS feed icons you may have seen or may now start more to notice.
C. Search and Subscribe
Now that you know how to subscribe, it’s time to find blogs of interest. Have a look at these two blog search tools and subscribe to any interesting blogs you stumble across. Search for blogs that will be meaningful in your work or personal interests.
Edublogs search: This is a keyword powered, custom-built Google search engine for education-related blogs built by educators like you. Just type in your search term(s) – all of your results will be from blogs and news sites with RSS, not other traditional web sites.
Technorati: Try searching by keyword, then scroll down and try searching by tag to find posts related to your topics of interest. There is also a “blog directory” search which will bring up blogs related to your search topic.
D. Organize Google Reader Content in Folders
Once your account is created, you may want to make some folders where you will keep your feeds. Here is an eHow video showing how to Manage Subscriptions by creating folders. (Word of warning - there is some brief advertising at the beginning of the video.) Then go to the bottom left of your subscription panel and click on “Manage Subscriptions” to get started organizing. Note: Once you have created folders for your feeds, click the + sign to open a folder to display its contents.
You will also want to Tag your feeds to help organize. View this eHow video on tagging your feeds. (Again, be prepared for ad at the beginning of video clip.) eHow has a whole series of videos on using Google Reader. See the link to the Gooler Reader series in the list of videos below for more tutorials.
Google Reader “How-To” Resources: Here are some additional resources to help with your questions on using Google Reader:
Videos:
• Google Reader series: Interface overview, subscribing to feeds, viewing feeds, organizing feeds, using tags, searching, changing settings, bookmarks, offline, on cell phone, etc.
• How to create a feed with Google Reader (1:23 minutes)
• How to use Google Reader (3 minutes) is a large clear demonstration of subscribing and reading the New York Times.
• How to read RSS feeds (9:24 minutes) demonstrates free downloaded software called RSS Bandit and Google Reader.
Websites:
How to Add a Feed to Google Reader (very informative page)
http://google.about.com/od/personalizegoogle/qt/GoogleReaderAdd.htm
Newbie’s Guide to Google Reader (CNET)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9745368-2.html
E. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 4
It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of blogs out there - how do you handle information overload and how do you think RSS might help with that?
