What is RSS? and Why Should You (teacher, librarian, student) Care?” Jo Ann Ponville EBRPSS Instructional Technology Facilitator

RSS Rich Site Summary Really Simple Syndication Lets view a short video on RSSshort video on RSS

Advantages Save time and bandwidth--You are notified when a website is updated Alerts you when a search finds new results Gives you control over information you receive Content comes directly to you at specified interval (daily, weekly) Website owners do not have access to your address or personal information NO 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, magazines Subscribe to blogs and websites from other educators, political or professional organizations, or based around a hobby or topic of study Search alert from subscription databases Subscribe to podcasts

Finding a Feed Not all websites provide feeds 2 Formats for syndicating a website  RSS– older  ATOM—newer form of syndication Search Google for a term plus RSS (example: louisiana +rss)Google Use Technorati -- a search engine that searches only blogsTechnorati Search4RSS Your 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 Reader Aggregator features are frequently built into  Portal sites such as My Yahoo! and iGoogle  Web browsers (Internet Explorer 7, Firefox) and programs (Outlook 2007)

Sample RSS Readers Google Reader NewzCrawler FeedDemon Netvibes Omea Reader Bloglines NewsGator FeedReader Awasu Personal Edition News Fire Blog Navigator SharpReader Internet Explorer 7 Outlook 2007 Yahoo! FireFox Live Bookmarks Safari (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 leftBrowse for stuff 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 RSS Click Adds this feed to your Internet Explorer 7 reader OR for Google Reader Copy URL In reader click

LETS LOOK AT EBSCO ALERTS

RESOURCES Mary Harrsch “RSS: The Next Killer App For Education”RSS: The Next Killer App For Education Fagan Finder “Explanation of RSS, How You Can Use it, and Finding RSS Feeds”Explanation of RSS, How You Can Use it, and Finding RSS Feeds *Will Richardson RSS Quickstart Guide for EducationRSS Quickstart Guide for Education Brian Mull Tutorial

Questions? Presentation will be posted at Contact Jo Ann Ponville