Recognize this icon? You’ve probably seen it on websites (at the end of the address bar? This is the RSS feed button. Maybe you’ve heard friends and co-workers talk about it, but still have no idea what RSS is. Well, don’t worry, because this week we’re going to learn all about RSS! In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionizing 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.
Exploration Resources:
- Here’s a wonderful CommonCraft on RSS Feeds:
- Feed Me: A gentle introduction to Internet feeds – a good tutorial from Palinet, a 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 through 3 to set up your Bloglines account. Steps 4 through 9 are optional and cover how to subscribe to different types of feeds (podcasts, Flickr albums, etc.)
- Adding RSS Feeds to Bloglines – A short YouTube video from our own Helene Blowers that she created showing how to add feeds.
- Additional Bloglines news feed subcription information (screenshot image)
- Your co-workers – tap into their knowledge or work through your discovery process together! Several WLS staff already use RSS feeds – seek them out and ask them to show what they know.
Exploration Exercise:
- Follow the exploration resources above to learn more about RSS and newsreaders.
- Create a free online Bloglines account for yourself and subscribe to at least 10 newsfeeds to your reader. See Using Bloglines Tutorial steps 1-3 for instructions.
- WLS Learns participant blog feeds – Subscribe to several of your co-workers’ blogs. This is as easy as typing the blog URL into the subscribe field in Bloglines, or finding the RSS icon somewhere on their blog, if they have included it. Try it, it’s easy!
- Then try adding a few other types of news feeds from news sources. Start with these 3 sites below and subscribe to their feeds:
- The WLS Learns blog feed
- NYT feeds, for online subscribers (pick at least one)
- Unshelved – Library cartoon feed
- 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 (find where to find this below)
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.
How to find your public Bloglines URL:
- Click on the Share tab within your Bloglines account:
- Scroll down the right screen pane and locate the public URL (see screenshot)
- Be sure to add this as part of your post to demonstrate your completion of this activity!
So, to wrap things up, here is the link to my public Bloglines account: http://www.bloglines.com/public/jsexton50
Why have a public account? To share blog rolls with others, of course! By checking out the blogs I subscribe to, you can see what i check into most days when i go online and if they are interesting to you, you can easily subscribe to them yourself.
P.S. I had a bit of difficulty making my blogroll public because I couldn’t figure out my username. It turns out NOT to be your login name/email. You make a username by logging into Bloglines and then clicking on ACCOUNT then selecting BLOG SETTINGS. Enter the username you want to use. Then, beside SHOW MY BLOGROLL, be sure to select YES, publish my Blogroll.
P.S.: Once you tackle this discovery exercise, you’ve conquered the most difficult one of all the “THINGS”! Whew!
I am trying to download my pictures from flickr and can’t seem to navigate between the two sites.
Is there a chance that a opml file with a list of feeds from the WLS Learns participants will be made available, or do I need to bookmark them all separately and create one myself?
I’m finding that I forget to check blogs when I don’t have an RSS feed reminding me.
A little blogging humor – as part of Thing 2, I checked out several of John’s blogs and clicked WLS but was surprised to find it stood for Westchester Landscape Supply!
Actually, I might find that site helpful if the economy straightens out and we can afford a budget for landscaping someday…