Task 3: Make Life Simple with RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are a way of distributing or 'syndicating' the content from a web site, hence the name Really Simple Syndication. Although RSS has been around for a while it is only in the last year or so that they have begun making a big impact. You see, RSS takes the traditional way of consuming information on the web and turns it on its head. Let me explain...

Let's say you have a dozen web sites that you like to keep up to date with. You visit each one in turn and check to see if they have anything new on the site. If there's no new content you have wasted your time. News readers/aggregators allow you to subscribe to web sites using RSS feeds. Whenever a web site is updated with new content the RSS feed is updated and the aggregator gathers the new content together from all your subscriptions in the one place.

In this task you will set up your own news reader and subscribe to some feeds, discovering the power of RSS for yourself!

First...
If you want a bit more background you can read about RSS Feeds on the Library Blog. You can also watch this great little video, RSS in Plain English explaining the concept of feeds (highly recommended).



Next...
You need to set up an aggregator. Like email, news readers come in both desktop and web based versions. Given that you can't install the desktop versions on work PCs I recommend you use a web based aggregator such as Google Reader or NewsGator. You can, of course use another aggregator of your choice such as bloglines or even My Yahoo! (for those who use Yahoo! mail)

One advantage of the Google Reader is that if you have followed the recommendations in previous tasks (Gmail and Blogger) you already have a Google Account. Simply go to Google Reader and sign in with your email address and password to start subscribing to feeds. Otherwise, look for a sign up button and follow the prompts.

Then...
Once you have set up an account with an online aggregator you will want to subscribe to some feeds. If a web site provides an RSS feed it is usually indicated by an orange icon such as this , or this , or just under a heading such as Feeds or Subscribe.

To subscribe to a feed you need to copy the URL (address) of the feed into your aggregator.

• Right-click on the link to the RSS feed (it might be one of the icons above or text) and select Copy Shortcut.


• Go to your aggregator and look for a button labelled Subscribe or Add a Feed (in Google Reader there is a link called Add Subscription). Click on this link.


• Paste the URL of the feed in to the text box.

You should now be able to see the content from the RSS feed displayed in your reader. If you are using Google Reader it might look something like this:If you are having trouble try looking for a help/support link on your feed reader. Ask a friend or colleague and see if they can help?

Don't know what to add? Try locating the RSS feed for the Library Blog or your own blog. Also, most news sites (ABC, SMH, etc.) now have RSS feeds on their web sites.

Finally...
Write a post for your blog reflecting on your experience with RSS feeds. Consider:

• How do you think RSS feeds could affect your work/personal life?
  
• How could libraries could take advantage of the power of RSS feeds to improve their services?

And, don't forget to update your progress on the tracking log.

Extension...
Although these exercises are not compulsory, they will extend your understanding of the usefulness of RSS feeds.

Try locating a few feeds on a topic you're interested in using one of these services:

• technorati
  A popular blog and social media tracking service where you can search for blogs, posts video and photos.
  
• syndic8
  A directory of feeds and headlines
  

Experiment with your blog template by displaying some headlines from another site in your blog's sidebar. For example, the New Web Resources list on the Library blog is drawn from an RSS feed of items recently bookmarked on our del.icio.us account.

Start by locating the URL of the feed you want to add. Then login to your blog and edit the template to add the feed. You may need to consult your blog's help pages to get started (Blogger users start here).