Activity 4 - RSS and Newsreaders

1. Learn about RSS feeds and set up your own Google Reader account

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? Well don’t worry, according to a 2006 survey you’re still in the majority, but this is changing rapidly. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionalizing 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 Google Reader* account (a free online newsreader) for yourself to bring your feeds together.

Discovery 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 Palinet, a library cooperative

   

• Google Reader: Getting Started - from Google Reader help

   

• Google Reader: Getting Started - A 10-minute YouTube video introducing Google Reader.

   

• Really Useful Syndication - an explanation of RSS from Chris Betcher

Discovery Exercise:

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

2. Create a free online Google Reader account for yourself and subscribe to at least 5 newsfeeds to your reader.

   You simply do this by:

    

   • Going to http://reader.google.com

   • Signing in with your Google Account (the same that you use to log in to Blogger for your Learning 2.0 blog)

   • Add subscriptions by clicking on the "Add subscription" link on the sidebar and typing in (or copying and pasting) the URL of a website that has an RSS feed.

    

   Newsfeeds:

    

   • Learning 2.0 participant blog feeds - Subscribe to several of your co-workers' feeds. This is as easy as typing the blog URL into the "Add subscription" in Google Reader. Try it, it's easy!

      

   • Then try adding a few other types of news feeds from news sources. (Select at least 3 from the list below to subscribe to)

      

     • Technoblog

     • Michael Angel-o

     • Bibliosphere News

     • HeyJude

     • ABC News Online

    

3. Create a post in your blog about this exercise.

   Optional: If you're up to the challenge, share some posts and provide the URL address to your shared items page

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 new technology?

In conclusion, I've been experimenting with the shared items feature in Google Reader.  I'm learning its nuances, and perhaps it will improve as Google Reader continues to develop, but here's my shared items page.  I'd personally like to share links to blogs that I like, but I just as easily do this in del.icio.us.  It just seems it would make sense to have all the blog stuff together.

* Google Reader is still a project under development, but is useful for our needs, especially given that we already set up a Google account when establishing our Blogger blog.

2. Locate a few useful education-related blogs and newsfeeds

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Now that you have a newsreader (your Google Reader account), you can begin adding other newsfeeds that interest you. There are several ways you can locate newsfeeds:

• When visiting your favorite websites -- look for news feed icons (like the one at the top of the page, or like one of these) that indicate the website provides it. Often a feed icon will be displayed somewhere in the navigation bar of the site.

   

• Use Google Blog Search

   

• Other Search tools that can help you find feeds:

   

  • Feedster - One of the largest collections of RSS feeds, Feedster lets you search for feeds in three categories: news, blogs & podcasts

     

  • Topix.net - This search tool allows you to locate recent newsfeed items based upon keyword or phrase searching. The tool focuses specifically on news and media outlet RSS feeds for information, not weblogs.

     

  • Syndic8.com - Syndic8 is an open directory of RSS feeds that contains thousands of RSS feeds that users have submitted.

     

  • Technorati - Technorati is a popular blog finding tool that lets you search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are inherent to all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help you find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs you may be interested in.

    Additonal Resource: Technorati Tutorial on finding and adding your blog

Discovery Excercise:

1. Explore some of the search tools noted above that can help you locate some news feeds.

2. Create a blog post about your experience.

Don't know what to blog about? Here some questions to think about ...

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?

Which Search tool was the easiest for you? Which was more confusing?

What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find

What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?