RSS and Blogs

You’ve heard of RSS?

You’ve seen those small funny tags on websites? You’ve heard co-workers and acquaintances swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is?

Well don’t worry, according to a recent survey you’re still in the majority, but this is changing rapidly. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionalizing the way news, media and content creators share information, but it also is swiftly changing the way everyday users are consuming information. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web.

Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit every day. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it?

Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you?

Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

This week’s discovery exercises focus on learning about RSS news feeds and setting up a Bloglines account (a free online newsreader) for yourself to bring your feeds together.

Discovery Resources:

• CNET Video: RSS – Feel the Need for Feeds (3:32) – a good over view of what RSS is and the benefits to users.
• Feed Me: A gentle introduction to Internet feeds - a good tutorial from Palinet, a library cooperative
• RSS Feeds: Getting Started – This online tutorial (created by the Nashville Public Library) walks you through how to setup a Bloglines account and add RSS feeds.

Discovery Exercise:

Create a free online Bloglines account for yourself and subscribe to at least 10 newsfeeds to your reader.

Watch the RSS Feeds: Getting Started for information about setting up your Blogines account and adding feeds.

See Using Bloglines Tutorial steps 4 – 9 for how to subscribe to different types of feeds (podcasts, Flickr albums, etc)

Create a post in your blog listing some of your favorite blogs.

Some recommended blogs to read:

• LIS News
• Genealogy Librarian
• Free Range Librarian
• Cyndi's List of Blogs
• Stephen's Lighthouse
• The Shifted Librarian
• Tame the Web
• Unshelved
• The Practical Archivist
• Foldering
• Archival Ardor

Share your results of this Exercise here!