Week 5 RSS & Newsreaders

Table of Contents 11. Learn about RSS feeds and setup your own Bloglines newsreader account. Estimate of time: 2 hours Overview Benefits Perspectives Discovery Reflections: Localize your learnings Challenge 12. Locate a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds. Estimate of time: 1 hour Overview Benefits Perspectives Discovery Reflections: Localize your learnings Challenge

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11. Learn about RSS feeds and setup your own Bloglines newsreader account.

Estimate of time: 2 hours

Overview

Overview: RSS (short for "Really Simple Syndication") is an XML-based format for syndicating news and content. Employed by many news sites, news-focused communities on the web, websites, and weblogs of every kind, it creates the ability for small and large entities on the web with news or content to share with others to get their content out and broaden their audiences. It allows those interested in the information to easily add this content to their websites, blogs, wikis, and social networking site pages or read it from a central location using a feed aggregator such as Bloglines.

Benefits

There are two sides to the benefits of RSS. One is for the creator or publisher of content and the other is for consumer of that content. For an individual consumer of that content, RSS feeds save you untold time and energy and feeds are simple to use (naturally - remember that part about Really Simple Syndication). Latching onto the power of the RSS feed gives you the ability to keep up with what you are interested in on the web using an RSS aggregator such as Bloglines or by using the RSS feed reader functionality built into a homepage like My Yahooor iGoogle. For a library or institution, RSS feeds give you the power to inform on a whole new level. RSS feeds give you a way to provide a steady stream of pertinent fresh content on your library's or organization's websites, portals, blogs, wikis and more.

Perspectives

TO GET YOUR STARTED...

ABOUT RSS

View

• Common Craft's RSS in Plain English
• Kevin Dixon's Feeds and Aggregators slideshow (This slideshow discusses RSS and also has examples of working with Bloglines)

Listen

• Helen Blowers on RSS: Make life simple with RSS (05:05:15)

Read

• Wikipedia on RSS
• RSS - Syndication for Real People Right Now [note: This article gives some good basic info on RSS but it is a little older so some links may not longer be valid.]

ON RSS READERS

Watch one of these

• Google Reader Screencast on Capture the Conversation(00:09:55)
• Google Reader Tutorial with Andy Wibbel

Read a couple of these

• Wikipedia on Aggregators
• What is Bloglines? and How Does Bloglines Work? (Bloglines FAQ)
• About Bloglines
• Bloglines Tutorial from betterdays
• List of Aggregators from Wikipedia.
  

Discovery

1. Let's look at some feed readers. Check out Bloglines and Google Reader. Note: if you have a My Yahoo or iGoogle home page, you can add RSS feeds to them as well. We won't do that now though. (Don't worry. You can do this later if you want as it is a Challenge Task at the end of this module).
2. For this exercise, let's set up a Bloglines account.
3. Let's add some blogs to your feed reader. Grab the urls for a couple of your favorite blogs and let's try it. From the front page of Bloglines click on the word SUBSCRIBE on the graphic in the center of the screen OR click on your FEEDS tab to the LEFT on Bloglines, and then click ADD (right on top). Either way, all you have to do is copy the individual url into the BLOG OR FEED URL box. Then, just click the SUBSCRIBE button. You're subscribed!
4. Don't have any favorite blogs or want some new reads? Try Bloglines Quick Pick Subscriptions. Curious as to the hot feeds? Take a look at Bloglines List of Top 1000 Feeds.
5. Let's add a feed from a news site. Maybe you would like to subscribe to the Washington Post Book Review section. Just type in "Washington Post" in the search box on the TOP RIGHT of Bloglines and from the pull down menu choose SEARCH FOR FEEDS. You'll see the feed right at the top of the list. You can preview it or just subscribe.
6. Let's add a feed from a website or portal. Try one of the Amazon feeds.  Just type in "Amazon" in the search box on the TOP RIGHT of Bloglines and from the pull down choose SEARCH FOR FEEDS. You'll see the feeds. Pick one. You can preview it or just subscribe.
7. Want to do a little more? Add a feed for your local weather. Type in "Weather YOUR CITY" in the search box on the TOP RIGHT of Bloglines and from the pull down menu choose SEARCH FOR FEEDS. Take a look at the right sidebar. You'll see a list of MATCHING feeds. When I typed in my search "Weather Washington DC", I found: Yahoo! Weather Washington DC, NOAA's Weather at Washington DC, Reagan National Airport, The Weather Channel's local weather outlook for Washington DC, etc.
8. Go ahead, add a gossip column or a favorite comic. For example, let's say you want a Charlie Brown/Snoopy fix - just type in "Peanuts" in the search box on the TOP RIGHT of Bloglines and from the pull down menu choose SEARCH FOR FEEDS. You'll see the feed. You can preview it or just subscribe.
9. Maybe you want to organize your feeds. First, click EDIT from the top of the FEEDS tab to the LEFT on Bloglines. Next, click on the NEW FOLDER icon on the top of the FEEDS tab. Create your folder and name it.  Drag a feed into it. Now your getting organized!
10. You've done a good job setting up your Bloglines account and starting it up. Tomorrow morning, go into Bloglines and read your feeds in one place from the FEEDS tab on the LEFT side of Bloglines. You can read them all together or view posts from individual feeds by selecting from links in your FEEDS folder on the FEED Tab on the LEFT side of Bloglines.
11. Notice as you are reading that you can read the full post in Bloglines or click the link to see it out on the original site.
12. CLIP something you read on your Bloglines so you can blog about it. Notice the CLIP option at the bottom of posts as you read on Bloglines. You will now find it on the CLIPPINGS tab on the LEFT SIDE of Bloglines and can easily use it later.
    

Reflections: Localize your learnings

Ask Yourself

• How will using a feed reader change my web experience?
• How can I use a feed reader to optimize my professional development?
• Can we use RSS feeds to enhance a resource we are currently providing to our users?
• Do RSS feeds help us to think about a new set of resources we can provide to our users?

Challenge

On Bloglines

1. Add a Bloglines Subscribe button to your web browser to make it super easy to subscribe as your browse. Bloglines tells you how here.
2. Feeling really brave? You can try sharing your feeds on your blog. Bloglines tells you how here.

Ready for Something Else? Try this...

1. Sign up for a My Yahoo or iGoogle page. For this challenge, let's walk through it on My Yahoo.
2. You've signed up and now you need to make it yours. Customize it. For instance, on My Yahoo you go through a series of prompts when you set up: TELL US YOUR LOCATION, and CHOOSE YOUR INTERESTS.
3. Now do a little more. On My Yahoo, you can "Personalize" your page. This is where you can do some very cool things like:
   1. Add content including RSS feeds
   2. Change the appearance of your My Yahoo page (color and layout)
   3. GO AHEAD - PERSONALIZE IT!
4. Organize your page - drag and drop each individual component on the page so it is placed exactly the way you want it to be.
5. Now, it's beautiful and you should share it. Click on the SHARE THIS PAGE button on the top of the page and follow the instructions.

Got a feed and want your subscriptions to increase? Read this article: How to Make Your RSS Feed Pop!

12. Locate a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds.

Estimate of time: 1 hour

Overview

Now that you know all about how to use RSS aggregators/readers and have set up your Bloglines account, it's time to explore the universe of blogs that will help you be a bigger, badder, better information professional.

Benefits

You'll be smarter, more informed, and maybe a little addicted too.

Perspectives

Look for the orange RSS feed icon on sites indicating that a feed is available.

Explore these resources for identifying blog feeds regarding libraries

• Use your feed reader to find blogs of interest. For instance you can search for blog of interest right on Bloglines with Blogline's Search.
• Library Blogs @ Yahoo Directory
• LIS Wiki article on Library Weblogs (alphabetical list of links)
• Search for Blog about Libraries on the Open Directory Project.
  

Other Sources

• Google Blog Search
• Syndic8.com
• Technorati Blog Directories
• U.S. Government RSS Library from USA.gov

Discovery

Need some suggestions of specific blogs and feeds to add to your feed reader? Here's a baker's dozen. Check them out and add the ones that work for you to your feed reader.

Great feeds for libraries

• Docuticker - hand-picked selection of resources, reports and publications from government agencies, NGOs, think tanks and other public interest organizations.
• Government Info Pro - a blog for government librarians
• LISNews - Library and Information Science News
• Librarians Internet Index: New This Week
• Library Journal - News and Features
• Library Link of the Day - you "of the day" resource on this list
  Library Stuff - Steven M. Cohen
• LLRX.com -Sabrina Pacifici
• Pew Internet and American Life Project: All
• Resource Shelf - Gary Price in action.
• SLA IT Division Blog
• The Shifted Librarian - Jenny Levine looks at innovative technologies.
• Unshelved - A great library comic strip.
  

Reflections: Localize your learnings

• Now that you are blogging, where do you want to take it? Is is just an exercise or will you start building your readership through your own RSS feed?
• So you've found some good blog reads. Are you sharing these finds with others? How are you doing that? Through blogrolls on your blog? Through contributing to wikis and other collaborative content? By sharing a My Yahoo or iGoogle page?
• Now that you are reading more blogs more regularly through the use of your feed reader, how are you going to use that knowledge both personally and professionally?

Challenge

• Teach a friend or colleague how to set up their own Bloglines account.
• Try out Pageflakes or NetVibes Ginger - both are personalized start pages - just for fun.