RSS

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RSS

1. As with many 2.0 technologies, understanding may come easier through practice than explanation, but it's good to have some basic ideas about RSS Feeds before you get started. Read through these two articles for an introduction:
   • How and Why To Use RSS Feeds (http://www.rin.ac.uk/why-subscribe)
   • Order From Chaos Via RSS (http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=166403686)
   • Also, watch this short (3.5 minutes) video about RSS: RSS in Plain English (http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english) The video is a nice, quick introduction to the why and how of RSS feeds, and makes the whole process seem less daunting.
   • Another short video (2.5 minutes) that explains feed reading: Feed Each Other Intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Ltwh4AO_w) This video uses a nice tv analogy to explain the basic concepts.
2. Let's look at some different RSS Feed Agregators -
   • Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com/)
   • FeedReader (http://www.feedreader.com/)
   • Google Reader (http://www.google.com/help/reader/tour.html)
3. A different kind of program that utilizes RSS technology is the site IStalkr (http://www.istalkr.com). IStalkr is currently in beta, so you'll have to request to be invited to try it out. If it interests you, check it out and write a blog post about it when you do, so we can all benefit!

Things To Do

1. Add all the articles and aggregators to a folder on your Firefox Browser.
2. Write a blog post about one of the following:
   • Your thoughts on RSS so far.
   • Questions you have about RSS.
   • Potential benefits you can imagine for your library if it used RSS to send out different kinds of information to patrons.

Next assignment - Benefit from RSS by settting up an account with Bloglines

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