What’s It All About?
RSS stands for “Real Simple Syndication” It is a web software technology that lets you keep track of your favorite websites. With RSS you can subscribe to webpages, such as news headlines, blog posts, and podcasts. As each page is updated, this information is sent to your RSS Reader
What’s in it for you?
Think about the websites you visit on a regular basis. When there is no new information, you’ve wasted time going to each different site. Now imagine being able to go to only one spot to see updated information. Using an RSS Reader will let you keep up to date on current news, weather, library information, and much much more with very little time and effort!
Try It Out!
1. Learn more about RSS by reviewing these articles:
- What is RSS and How to use it A Basic Tutorial on RSS by Webjunction
- Watch RSS in Plain English – from the Common Craft Show it’s a good over view of what RSS is and the benefits to users.
2. Create your own free Bloglines account to track RSS Feeds:
- Visit Bloglines and create an account
- Record your username and password using the Account Reference Sheet.
- Add three RSS feeds to your account.
For additional help, follow these steps:
- Easy Bloglines Tutorial
- Watch the short YouTube video Add RSS feeds to Bloglines that shows how to add feeds.
Need some suggestions for sites? Try these:
- Library sites http://www.loc.gov/blog/
- newsfeeds http://www.cnn.com/
- library blogs http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/
- weather http://www.weather.com/
- fun http://www.unshelved.com/
3. Post your thoughts about RSS feeders in your Blog!
Here are some questions to answer in your post.
- What do you like about RSS and feed readers?
- 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?
- If you’re already using a feed reader, share your experiences with your co-workers.
- Which one do you use? Do you find it useful to get posts right when they are published?
More to Explore:
Hot! Fresh! Delivered to You! : a longer article about RSS with a library research twist
Other Search tools that can help you find feeds:
- o Feedster – One of the largest collections of RSS feeds, Feedster lets you search for feeds in three categories: news, blogs & podcasts
- o 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.
- o Syndic8.com – Syndic8 is an open directory of RSS feeds that contains thousands of RSS feeds that users have submitted.
- o 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
Next up: #6 Music Networks and Streaming Music
Filed under: RSS and Feed Readers | Tagged: Bloglines, Feed Readers, iGoogle, My Yahoo!, RSS
This was frustrating. I loved the Common Craft Show explanation. The other video was too fuzzy to be of much use. When I got to Bloglines for the set up I was unable to navigate my way through for reasons that are not clear to me. I talked to a fellow employee who admitted to having a similar experience.
I agree that the You Tube video was completely unwatchable!
Oops, that should have said the second You Tube video…
The second one is shaky I agree, if you watch it in full screen mode it’s better though–and there is some good information there which is why we included it. I agree it would be much, much better if if wasn’t so fuzzy though. I’m guessing it just wasn’t done at a high enough resolution or something.
If we add RSS feeds to our Sno-Isle Outlook – will that use “space” like inbox or is it more like a personal folder?
I don’t know the answer to that specific question, however I wouldn’t use Outlook to manage my RSS feeds simply because web based tools like Bloglines, i-Google, My Yahoo are SO MUCH EASIER.
If you are a bit skeptical about RSS feeds indulge me for a moment by suspending your disbelief for a moment.
For the sake of argument let’s suppose that you find you love RSS feeds much more than you thought you would and you set up a bunch of them for work, news, fun–whatever, it’s almost a certainty that you’re going to want to check them from home as well, remember–you’re into this.
If you decide you want to read your RSS feeds from home via your Outlook, you’d need to do the following:
Remember the URL for Webmail–if you’re like me this means a few clicks to the URL.
Go to webmail
Sign in with your username and password.
Open the folders tab in webmail
Open your RSS feeds and finally begin looking at them.
Or you could go to Bloglines, Google or wherever and there they are waiting for you. You might not even have to sign in if you have your browser remember to log you in automatically.
So much easier than messing around with Outlook that I don’t know why anyone would bother to do it that way.
While selecting RSS feeds I stumbled upon some promotional videos for National Library Week that were quite humorous. They’re posted at: http://alfocus.ala.org/categories/national-library-week
Can’t wait to see the final version of SIL’s promo video.
While I see the advantages of RSS feeds, I personally would use them sparingly. Part of the reason I still read the physical newspaper is to discover news about things I wasn’t aware of. Seems like technology is in a way allowing people to finetune on their specific interests (a good thing, I suppose) but possibly at the expense of knowing what else is out there. Maybe all I care about is the latest national sports stories when I might be better off learning what’s going on in national politics or what is going on in my local community. When all I hear is what I want to, it becomes a little too easy to settle into consumer mode and disengage from being a citizen.
Interesting point I think they’ll always be a place for the physical newspaper especially for local news. On the other hand, I like that feeds remind me to read the New York Times often, a paper that I’d never dream of subscribing to for my house.
I find them much more useful for professional development information, when I use them in conjunction with del.ic.ious . I read the headlines, look over the post and then if it looks useful for the future i add it my delicious. Used this way, it makes the journals routed around Sno-Isle almost completely irrelevant.
The other way i use them is to follow my favorite band Pearl Jam’s site in case there are any pre-sales coming up for concerts.
There was a chilling article on the New Yorker a few weeks ago about the death of newspapers, and predictions that the last newspaper will disappear by 2043. Younger readers are getting news online exclusively (probably from Jon Stewart!)
Yeah, conventional newspapers have been struggling. Witness the latest round of layoffs for the Seattle Times, in effect killing off it’s Snohomish and east-side bureaus.
Now don’t get me me wrong – RSS feeds do offer a great advantage in being more targeted. And I have to admit that I watch the Daily Show regularly. Stewart actually does a pretty good job demonstrating how media can over-report falsehoods till they become commonly held beliefs. And he appeals to a younger audience with humor so at least he’s engaging people enough to raise awareness. But at best, he’ll hit 3-4 major stories in an episode.
Print media still offers a wider variety and more depth of reporting than most television news will find time for between the advertising spots. The internet certainly has the potential to fill the void, but one wonders if news bureaus will continue to fund reporters around the globe when advertising revenue continues to shrink.
And one wonders if we’ll still be reading paper books in 2043.
Oh you guys really need to give RSS a chance! I’m the total RSS Queen and I LOVE it. Michael and David – it’s NOT for news in the traditional sense – keep your print for savoring with a cup of java on a Sunday morning. RSS is for blogs and such that are printed “irregularly.” You know the newspaper will be in the box every morning. You don’t know when your fav blogger will do a new posting. Why go looking in the box day after day when it may be empty – RSS will deliver the paper box to you only when it is filled! Here are some of my favs – check them out: http://www.businesswritingblog.com/ http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/ http://www.elise.com/recipes/
I don’t have to seek out the latest new recipes, current earthquake info, or business writing – it comes to me at the moment it’s published – it’s very cool. And it is a great time saver for those topics you may find interesting but don’t want to repeat the same old searches day after day.
Hello, I’m still a bit confused about the RSS feeds. I’m a little behind because I’m a substitute. I’ve signed up for bloglines, but frankly, I don’t want to have to open yetanother screen daily. (I work for two library systems.) Can I link my RSSes to my blog? I’ve looked for a help screen–usually I can do new things myself. Thanks!
The short answer is no, your blog won’t work as a feed reader.
Feed readers notify you when there is a new posting on one of the sites that you follow. To use your blog to follow all of the sites the way you would with a feed reader would mean that you’d have to open each site every day to see if anything new has been added. This would actually take much more time than opening your bloglines account each day.
How can I post a saved draft? I’ve looked in bloglines help and can’t find an answer. I can edit it, but I can’t seem to get from edit draft to post.
I’m going assume you’re talking about blogger, rather than bloglines.
Saved posts/drafts can posted to your blog by going into edit and when the post comes up clicking the publish now button.