#8: RSS really is “really simple”

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Wow! What a great list of blogs we’ve created. By now, however, you are probably feeling just a little overwhelmed, right? If each one of us writes an entry or two a week, how can we possibly keep up? Aha! That’s the very clever “thing” we’re going to learn about this week. It’s called “RSS” which stands for Really Simple Syndication. It really is simple! There are lots of explanations, but here’s a good one from Common Craft:

Click To Play

Luckily, Blogger automatically includes a subscription link on every blog it creates (and most other blogging software does too.) As a blog author, you don't have to do anything more. Scroll down to the very bottom of this page and you’ll see it: Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). (Don't worry: "atom" is just a specific subscription method.) That’s the syndication part. See, isn't that simple?

Now put on your reader hat. In order for you to use that Subscribe link, you’ll have to set up a Bloglines account. Bloglines is an aggregator. It goes out and checks each blog to which you’ve subscribed to see if there’s anything new. When it finds something, it lets you know. Once you create a Bloglines account (and don't forget to add it to the list of accounts you set up in Thing #1), you’re ready to play!

Bloglines is really a personal web page, so you can access it from any computer using the URL: http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs However, many people install "extensions" to integrate Bloglines into IE or Mozilla or Firefox. See all the options on the "My Blogs" page. (I highly recommend you install a "Notifier." Even if your browser isn't open, it will tell you if Bloglines has found anything new for you. How easy is that?)

Discovery Exercise:

1. Set up a Bloglines account


2. Subscribe to the 23 Things blog. Open your Bloglines/My Blogs page in another window. Click Add on the top of the left panel. Now back on this page, click on the Subscribe link at the very bottom of this 23 Things page. Copy the URL of the Window that opens into the Blog or Feed URL box and click the Subscribe button. Or watch this YouTube video created by Helene Blowers: Adding RSS Feeds to Bloglines


3. Subscribe to one or two (or all) of the 23 Things participants’ blogs. You can do this by selecting the blogs from the list on the left, scrolling to the bottom of each blog, and clicking the Subscribe link.

Now, you will know when there are any new entries in any of our blogs, just by checking one place. See, it's as simple as 1-2-3.

Extra! Extra! Select a notifier from the My Blogs page and add it to your desktop.

Discovery Resources (for those, like Oliver, who want some more . . .)
There are lots and lots of resources about RSS, so if you're interested in knowing more, it's easy to get knee deep in the big muddy before you go very far.

• Read Chapter 5 in Will Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. A version of this chapter is available online.
• 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
• A 2-page handout from Educause's Learning Initiative
• And don't forget your friends. Alisa has created a screencast here that explains Google Reader, another kind of feed reader or aggregator like Bloglines.

It doesn't really matter which aggregator you use. Once you're comfortable with Bloglines, you can explore multiple readers and read the recommendations of others. It’s a bit like searching for the holy grail. You can easily export your feeds from Bloglines to other readers or import from other readers into Bloglines.

Tell us what you think! Once you’ve set up a Bloglines account, come back here and add a comment to this post letting us know you’ve been successful. It’s important to us to know that you’re not lost in the deep muddy. We really like reading about your adventures!