The Incredible Power of The Incredible Power of RSS FeedsRSS FeedsNorma SmithInstructional TechnologyESC Region XI

Understanding RSS FeedsUnderstanding RSS FeedsRSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Real

Simple Syndication Sites generate a behind-the-scenes code in a

language similar to HTML called XML. ◦ http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html

This code, usually referred to as a "feed" (as in "news feed,") makes RSS possible for readers to "subscribe" to the content that is created on a particular site so they no longer have to visit the site itself to get new information.

The content comes to you instead of you going to get it,

Hence “Real Simple Syndication

What Kind of Content?What Kind of Content?Usually, content that is updated

regularly such as:◦Newspapers◦Journals/ Magazines◦Blogs◦Social Networking Sites◦Picture Sites◦Movies◦Others

Why Go Get Content?Why Go Get Content?The amount of information is

overwhelming. Knowledge and information used

to be scarce...that's what our education system was built upon. ◦No more (MIT)

knowledge used to be hard or unchanging...but these days, knowledge is soft ◦(Wikipedia)

How do we cope with this information?

How do we structure what we read and view?

How do we help our students structure their reading and research?

How do we model new literacy?

Why Learn and Use Why Learn and Use Feeds?Feeds?Amy Gehran (Contentious) writes: The most effective, lasting way to adapt

your online-media mindset, habits, and priorities is to actually use these skills — not just know about them in a theoretical sense…experience itself — the “doing” — is what opens people’s minds enough that they make significant changes in how they use media to inform and engage with others... the highly interconnected, engaged, conversational nature of today’s online media is a matter of experience

http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20061225,00.html

RSS AggregatorsRSS Aggregators

Understand News Understand News Aggregators Aggregators The aggregator (software)

checks the feeds you subscribe to, usually every hour, collects all the new content from those sites you are subscribed to and…

Then, when you’re ready,you open up it up to read the individual stories, file them for later use, click through to the site itself, or delete them if they’re not relevant.

In other words, you check one site instead of 30…not a bad tradeoff for a typically harried teacher.

Kinds of RSS AggregatorsKinds of RSS AggregatorsDesktop – IE7Online –

◦Google Reader◦Yahoo Mail◦Bloglines

Email programs

Using IE7 Local ReaderUsing IE7 Local ReaderFeeds Settings – Internet

Options, ContentsTo Read:

◦Click Favorites Center Star◦Click Feeds◦Select

To manage Feeds◦Drag to folders◦Right Click to create or delete

Folders

To Add FeedsTo Add Feeds IE 7 Feeds are dynamic Easiest example

◦ Go to sportsillustrated.com◦ Tool Bar Orange Icon lights up◦ Click◦ Click “subscribe to this feed”◦ Organize

Easy example:◦ Go to http://www.esc11.net◦ Click on Feeds icon on the page ◦ Scroll down and copy/paste the URL for the feed in the

toolbar◦ Click “subscribe to this feed”

Practice on “interesting feeds”

If No Icon, Look for….If No Icon, Look for….subscribe syndicate feed rss xml atom

Finding FeedsFinding FeedsUse a Search engine and look

around◦www.google.com

Use a Blog search engine◦http://technorati.com/◦http://blogsearch.google.com

To find news,◦Google

Cool Feeds to ExploreCool Feeds to ExploreWill RichardsonWill Richardson

Weather via RSS : http://www.rssweather.com/

Word of the day via RSS: http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/

eBay via RSS: http://www.rssauction.com/

An Online AggregatorAn Online AggregatorGoogle ReaderGoogle ReaderGo to http://reader.google.comView MineLog in or get an accountExplore

◦Read feeds◦Delete what you don’t want◦Look under “Add subscriptions”,

“Browse” add some you want◦Click “Add subscriptions” and let

google reader search for some feeds

Whoop-te-doos◦Starred items◦Shared items◦Trends

Set up Folders for your Set up Folders for your Selected AreasSelected AreasFolders are synonymous with TagsClick on “manage subscriptions”Click on drop down box to put

subscription in a folder/tagTo add a new folder/tag, when you

subscribe, type in the name of the tag

To delete a tag, select, click delete

More Cool Feeds More Cool Feeds Norma SmithNorma Smith

EdTech Will Richardson◦http://www.weblogg-ed.com/

EdTech Miguel Guhlin◦http://www.weblogg-ed.com/

EdTech eschool News◦http://www.eschoolnews.com/

Interesting site ◦www.about.com

Some More Sample FeedsSome More Sample Feeds Finance: Both Google Finance and Yahoo! Finance let you get finance news

updates for specific companies and stocks. To receive stock quotes (only for some stocks), use NASDAQ's feeds.

Weather: The Weather Channel , WeatherBug, NOAA's National Weather Service .

Classifieds: craigslist and Oodle.com offer feeds for all of their listings. Just look for the orange "RSS" link at the bottom of any results page . Similarly, eBay.

Package tracking: To track packages that have been sent by UPS, FedEx, USPS or DHL/Airborne, use isnoop.net's universal package tracking or simpletracking.com.

Social networking: Facebook offers feeds for many of its features; notifications, status updates, and friends' posted items in Reader. Twitter fans can get RSS feeds for many of its pages.

Shopping: Amazon has feeds for the latest popular products as well as wish lists (look for the orange feed icon). Many other shopping web sites offer feeds, including Yahoo! Shopping, MSN Shopping, and NexTag.

Saved searches: Google Blog Search, Google News and most Yahoo! sites (among others) let you subscribe to search results as feeds. This way, if you want to monitor a topic, you don't have to keep running searches over and over again.

Manage SubscriptionsManage SubscriptionsSelect all or nonePlace subsriptions in folders/tagsCan be in more than one for

organizationCan delete subscriptions – See

Trends

DemoDemoMonitor Student BlogsMonitor Student BlogsEvery student has a blog with

RSS feedSet up a folder and subscribeKnow when additions are madeSame with web pagesSubscribe to all ESC XI IT blogs

DemoDemoStudents Monitor Teacher BlogStudents Monitor Teacher BlogTeacher has a blog Students each subscribe with an

online aggregatorStudents know when something

new is up

Student Research with Student Research with RSSRSSNew Searches

◦Googlealerts.com/ Get an account Up to 3 alerts Feed settings User settings

Design Your own Personal Design Your own Personal CurriculumCurriculumList three areas that you want to

be knowledgeable and current in (hobbies or interests)

Ex.◦News◦Weather◦Sports◦Cross Stitching◦Professional

On Google ReaderOn Google ReaderCreate these three foldersSearch to find feeds using

◦Google +RSS◦Technorati◦**www.about.com◦GoogleAlerts◦other

Start reading regularly

RSS RSS Negatives V PositivesNegatives V Positives

Amateur Researchers

Poor taggingSomething else

to manageDubious sites

No spamDigital Native

FriendlyFreeSimple to UseEasy to shareAccessible

anywhereBuilds and Builds

http://www.slideshare.net/celliott/assembling-your-web-20-toolbox