Week Three - RSS Feeds

So, what is RSS?
Depending on who you talk to, it either stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. To read about the history of RSS visit RSS 2.0 at Harvard Law (optional). If you are someone who wants to keep current on your favourite websites, maybe the news... or even Rick Mercer's blog!, then RSS is for you. Instead of having to visit each site individually you can visit one site to read all the new content from all your favourite websites.

Are you ready to start?
Not just yet. Let's first watch the following video RSS Feeds in Plain English (3:44):



So, now we know that we need an RSS reader before we can begin subscribing to our favourite sites. There are many types of RSS readers but we are only going to look at two popular freely available web-based readers - Bloglines and Google Reader. These two readers are similar but if you are interested in reading a bit more (optional) about the two readers and about what other people think, take a look at:

Google Reader vs. Bloglines Beta (17 December 2008)
Bloglines - Better than Google Reader? (21 January 2009)

If you subscribe to Bloglines you will be asked to create an account by supplying your e-mail address and a password. If you subscribe to Google Reader you will use the Google account that you created during the activities in Week One.

Activity One - set up your account with Bloglines OR Google Reader
Now that you have a reader you will be able to subscribe to your favourite feeds.

How do you find feeds?
Well, sometimes it's just serendipity. You are visiting a site and you happen to see the orange "RSS" or "XML" button or sometimes you will just see a link to RSS (it's not always prominent - it might even be at the bottom of the home page and in a very small font). Or, you may want to use a RSS search engine like RSS Compendium.

Bloglines - one way to subscribe to a feed is to copy the feed URL (web address), then paste it into the box on the Bloglines page (upper right hand corner), choose Subscribe to URL, and then click on the blue arrow to the right. Now, scroll down the page and click on Subscribe. It's as simple as that. You will notice that the feed has been added in the column on the left under feeds. Other sites will offer an Add to Bloglines button where you just click on the button and follow the instructions.

Google Reader - to subscribe copy the feed URL (web address), then past it into the Add a Subscription box on the Google Reader page (upper left hand corner) and click on the Add button. That's it - you've done it! Note that it's been added in the column on the left under subscriptions. Other sites will offer an Add to Google Reader button where you just click on the button and follow the instructions.

Activity Two - select your favourite feed and subscribe or try subscribing to one or more of these: The Chronicle of Higher Education or BBC or Draft Magazine.

Now that you've subscribed to a feed the content will be delivered automatically. Open your reader often to see the latest information.

Be sure to update your blog and write about your experiences with RSS feeds.

Other Discovery Tools (optional):

It Really Is Really Simple: For Educators

Google Reader in Plain English (1:06):