|
RSS is the alphabet soup for a couple of different terms. Some say it stands for Real Simple Syndication. Others call it Rich Site Summary. Regardless of where the term comes from the real question is exactly, "What is RSS and what can I do with it?" The best resource I am aware of for explaining this is from Will Richardson. The following link will take to to a PDF Document that Will has produced. RSS: A Quick Start Guide for Educators But for a short explanation here goes. Many websites including nearly all blogs create a code in the background. This code is generally called a feed. It is created using the XML language. This code makes it possible for those interested to "subscribe" to that feed. When you subscribe to the feed, new content from that site is automatically pushed to you when it becomes available. In other words, you don't have to go check that website everyday for new content. It comes to you as soon as it becomes available. This process is called syndication. So that is what the syndication part comes from. RSS feeds can contain text, pictures, audio, or video files. As far as what makes it simple in my mind is the fact that you can subscribe to as many of these "syndicated" feeds as you want. So the next question should be well how do I subscribe to a feed. To subscribe to a feed you must use a program call an aggregator. Nearly all current versions of web browsers are also aggregators. If you are using the Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, or the latest version of Safari you can subscribe to feeds using built in capabilities. There are also many stand alone aggregator programs. A limitation of using the browser or an aggregator on your computer is that if you use another machine and want to check your feeds, obviously they won't be there. There are also several online aggregators that you can use. Google has an online aggregator called Google Reader. To use Google Reader you need to have a GMail account. One of the oldest though is Bloglines. If you are interested in setting up accounts on either of these services, it is recommended that you use the online help menus. There are a couple of video tutorials created by a librarian in MA on setting up a Bloglines account and subscribing to feeds. The first is on setting up the account. The second is on using that account to set up feeds. If you need additional help setting up an aggregator, please contact your Curriculum Technology Specialist.
|
