What is RSS?

and Why Should You

(teacher, librarian, student) Care?”

Jo Ann Ponville EBRPSS

Instructional Technology Facilitator

RSS

Rich Site SummaryReally Simple Syndication

Lets view a short video on RSS

Advantages

Save time and bandwidth--You are notified when a website is updatedAlerts you when a search finds new resultsGives you control over information you receiveContent comes directly to you at specified interval (daily, weekly)Website owners do not have access to your email address or personal informationNO possibility of spam or junk mail

WHAT TYPES OF SITES PROVIDE RSS FEEDS?

Newspapers

News Services

Magazines

Databases and database aggregators

Websites

Blogs

Wikis

EDUCATOR & STUDENT USE OF RSS

Keep track of current events or topics of interest (coastal erosion, global warming, presidential appointments…)Read favorite newpapers, journals, magazinesSubscribe to blogs and websites from other educators, political or professional organizations, or based around a hobby or topic of study Search alert from subscription databasesSubscribe to podcasts

Finding a Feed

Not all websites provide feeds2 Formats for syndicating a website RSS– older ATOM—newer form of syndication

Search Google for a term plus RSS (example: louisiana +rss)Use Technorati -- a search engine that searches only blogsSearch4RSSYour reader may suggest feeds based on your subscriptions or by category

HOW DO I KNOW IF A SITE CONTAINS A FEED?

Look around the site for icons

Find text on the site that says “RSS Feed” “ATOM Feed” “Syndicate this Site (XML)"” “Grab my XML feed” “Subscribe to Feed” “Add New York Times RSS

feeds”

Text Links

Branded icons

Add to MyYahoo button

Add to NewsGator button

Subscribe with Bloglines button

Feedburner XML button

Browser Based

– Internet Explorer 7 FEED tab lights up

SEARCH ALERT

EBSCO or other Database

WHAT DO I NEED TO SUBSCRIBE TO A FEED?

A news aggregator A feed reader RSS ReaderAggregator features are frequently built into Portal sites such as My Yahoo! and

iGoogle Web browsers (Internet Explorer 7,

Firefox) and email programs (Outlook 2007)

Sample RSS Readers

Google ReaderNewzCrawler FeedDemon NetvibesOmea Reader Bloglines NewsGatorFeedReaderAwasu Personal Edition

News FireBlog Navigator SharpReader Internet Explorer 7Outlook 2007Yahoo! FireFox Live BookmarksSafari (Mac OS X)NetNewsWire Lite (Mac)

HOW DO I SUBSCRIBE TO A FEED?

1. Click the "RSS" button and copy the web site address

2. Paste the address in the “subscribe” area of your feed reader

OR…

OR

Simply click on the “add to ____ ” button

LETS LOOK AT GOOGLE READER

GOOGLE READER RECOMMENDS FEEDS

Click the Browse for stuff  link on the left

Recommendations tab on the left suggests new feeds based on your existing subscriptions

Browse tab on right suggests pre-compiled bundles of feeds by topic, or search by keyword or category

GOOGLE READER RECOMMENDS FEEDS

LETS ADD SOME SUBSCRIPTIONS

The Advocate newspaper

A blog

LETS ADD SOME SUBSCRIPTIONS

Click RSSClick

Adds this feed to your Internet Explorer 7 reader

OR for Google ReaderCopy URL In reader click

LETS LOOK AT

EBSCO ALERTS

http://search.ebscohost.com\login.aspx?

authtype=uid

RESOURCES

• Mary Harrsch “RSS: The Next Killer App For Education”

• Fagan Finder “Explanation of RSS, How You Can Use it, and Finding RSS Feeds”

• *Will Richardson RSS Quickstart Guide for Education

• Brian Mull http://brianmull.wikispaces.com/RSS

• Tutorial http://www.rssgov.com/rssworkshop.html

Questions?

Presentation will be posted athttp://ebritrss.wikispaces.com/

Contact Jo Ann Ponvillejponville@ebrschools.org