Week 4: RSS & Newsreaders

RSS and Newsreaders

Last week you started your own blog. This week you’ll learn about the RSS feeds that are automatically created by your blog & other blogs, as well as by other types of content.

You’ll learn:

• What RSS is and why you might want to use it
• How to use a newsreader to subscribe to RSS feeds
• How to know when an RSS feed is available
  

Listen to our fourth podcast and read the content below. If you have questions about anything along the way, be sure to contact us. We’re happy to help!




What is RSS?

The initials RSS stand for “Really Simple Syndication”. RSS is a format for syndicating & publishing content online through newsfeeds. An RSS feed is updated as soon as the original content is updated.

RSS is revolutionizing the way content creators share information, and changing the way people consume information. It’s an efficient (and free) way to stay informed on topics that interest you.

Enjoy this video which explains RSS in Plain English:

What’s a newsreader, and why do I want one?

A newsreader is software that lets you subscribe to and read RSS feeds. With RSS feeds & a newsreader:

• Updates come to you, instead of you seeking them
• You tailor the news to fit your needs
• News is gathered in one place
• You can review lots of content in a short time
• It’s easy to scan headlines & read posts

How do I find library newsfeeds to which I can subscribe?

We’ve recommended some library feeds below. You can preview them & choose the ones to which you'd like to subscribe.

• Adventures in Technology
  
• ALA Techsource Blog
• blyberg.net
• David Lee King
• Information Wants to Be Free
• Jessica's Reviews
• LibrarianInBlack
• Library Stuff
• Lifehacker
  
• MakeUseOf.com
• RPL's Emerging Technology's Team Del.icio.us Bookmarks
• Racine Public Library News, Events & Information
• The Shifted Librarian
  
• Stephen's Lighthouse
• Tame the Web
• The WLA Blog
• Web2.0 Tools, WebServices, Mobile Apps

But wait – there’s more! You can find RSS feeds at lots of web content besides blogs:

• WorldCat user-created lists
• EBSCOhost alerts. Log in to your account to “create topic search alerts & journal alerts”: http://support.epnet.com/support_news/detail.php?id=334&t=r&page=&private=true (Note: EBSCOhost is available to Wisconsin libraries through Badgerlink)
• Tags used on the del.icio.us social bookmarking service and Flickr
• Podcasts like Uncontrolled Vocabulary
• Newspapers like the New York Times & the Journal Times
  

A good way to tell if web content has an RSS feed is when you see a small (often orange) RSS icon on a page or in your web browser’s address bar (see some examples).

What other ways can I use RSS feeds?

You can display RSS feeds on your blog or web page to provide content that’s automatically & frequently updated. These feeds can be from one of your library’s blogs, or from an outside source like newspaper headlines. Or they could be del.icio.us tags used to collect & update content on a subject guide web page.

Some free RSS display generators you can try include Feed to JavaScript, Feed Digest, RSS Mixer, and RSS-to-Javascript.

Here are examples of some of the ways libraries are re-purposing RSS feeds on their web sites:

• Denver Public Library There’s a live news feed on the right-hand side of the page; feeds are from Reuters, NY Times and other news sources
• Homer Township Public Library District (uses Feed2JavaScript) The library’s home page displays the headlines of library blogs & news sources in the center column. Sources of the newsfeeds are Library News & Announcements, the Director’s Blog, Teen Events, and local news via Google News
• MIT Libraries This page uses the RSS feed generated by the library’s del.icio.us list to populate their Virtual Reference Collection

Find more ideas for using newsfeeds at the RSS4Lib blog.

Assignment:

You’re going to set up a free Google Reader account and subscribe to at least 10 newsfeeds.

Tasks:

1. Register for a free account at Google Reader. After visiting www.google.com/reader scroll down and click on "Create an Account" on the bottom right hand side of the page. You can register for an account using your racinelibrary.info email address.

• This tutorial walks you through how to set up a Google Reader account. This tutorial will show you how to subscribe to newsfeeds.
  
• If you prefer, watch this video that demonstrates the steps.

2. Subscribe to at least 10 newsfeeds. Here are some for starters:

• Preview & choose from a core collection of library & technology related blogs we’ve put together for you here.
• Pick from a collection of library blogs at the Blogging Libraries Wiki
• Find more than just library blogs: http://www.bloglines.com/subbundles

3. Create a post on your blog about this assignment. Ideas for what you can write about: What do you like or about RSS feeds and aggregators? How do you think you might be able to use this in your work or personal life?

Optional task for those who already use Google Reader:

• try Bloglines
• set up a RSS feed for a website that doesn't already have a feed using the site Page2RSS
  

Extra: Cute Overload

Every week on Adventures in Technol we give you a little extra something fun; this week it’s Cute Overload!

Winner of the Webby’s 2007 People’s Voice Award and the 2007 Bloggies award for Best American Weblog, Cute Overload is guaranteed to give you a daily dose (or overdose) of “prosh” critters, from aardvarks to zebra finches. News flash: Cute Overload now proven beneficial to your health!

“A thing, accompanied by a smaller version of that thing, is always cute” and “You’re cute if your furniture doubles as a meal’ are just two of Cute Overload “35 Rules of Cuteness”.

Subscribe to the Cute Overload RSS newsfeed using this URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/CuteOverload.