Week 4, Thing # 8, RSS feeds and Blog Reader

Is this icon familiar?? YES!! This is RSS feed icon.

The third web 2.0 tools I learn is RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. I read more by visiting Infinite Thinking Machine website. Below is a quick summary...



RSS

RSS allows me to subscribe to online news and updates. If the website offer an RSS feed, all I need to do is subscribe. It's FREE. Once I subscribe, I do not need to visit that website to check for updates...regularly updated information will be delivered to me.

RSS feed

A file (on a webserver) that includes information about the updates I am interested in. RSS is alot like HTML, the programming language behind websites. Web browsers (Internet Explorer) can read HTML code and display a web page. RSS code is very similar, but must be read by an RSS aggregator (or reader), which can then display the update.

RSS aggregator (or reader)

Collects (or aggregates) all of my subscriptions in one place. Once subscribed to RSS, I can simply open my aggregator to read any new updates. The experience is alot like reading email.

Subscription

RSS was initially intended to help people subscribe to news updates. Not surprisingly, many news sources have RSS feeds (also called news feeds). Blogs may be the most common source of RSS feeds. Almost all blogs have an RSS feed. Mine is 'Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)' which can be found at the bottom of each page on my blog. However, it's not useful. Thus, I added Subscription Links to the sidebar of my blog. It'll let my readers easily subscribe to my blog with popular feed readers. Other web 2.0 tools also commonly include RSS feeds.

Most wikis allow me to subscribe to any changes. Services such as social bookmarking (del.icio.us), photo sharing (Flickr), or even web searches (Google News, MSN Search, Technorati) can provide additional sources of RSS feeds.

"Learn more about RSS"

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RSS feeds & Blog Reader

1. Create a free "RSS aggregator" account from Google Reader (or Bloglines) to collect RSS feeds
2. Subscribe to newsfeeds

I set up an RSS feed reader by simply signing in to Google Reader with the Google account I created when I first create a Blogger account!

I simply click on 'Add a subscription' to add RSS feeds.

Under 'Subscriptions', I'll see the feeds I subscribed to with the number of messages waiting to be read in parenthesis next to them. The feed name will be bold when there are new messages.

RSS feed readers - Client software or a Web application which aggregates syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing.

Bloglines - Bloglines is a web-based news aggregator for reading syndicated feeds using the RSS and Atom formats.

Google Reader - Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7, 2005 through Google Labs.
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• What do I like about RSS and newsreader?
• RSS allows me to subscribe to online news and updates for free. RSS feed delivers regularly the updated information from feeds I subscribed to. Newsreader receives them for me to read (like reading email). Thus, saves me time of browsing through websites for new contents.
• How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
• Libraries can add Subscription Links on their website to let users easily subscribe to with popular feed readers. This new technology enables any updates to be shared instantly with users.