#5 Make life "really simple" with RSS & a newsreader

• Watch this video: RSS in Plain English [3:43]
  

You’ve heard of RSS? You’ve seen those small funny tags on websites? You’ve heard co-workers and acquaintances swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is? Don’t worry, you’re still in the majority, but this is changing rapidly. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionizing the way news, media and content creators share information, but it also is swiftly changing the way everyday users are consuming information.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web. Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit every day. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it? Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

Your discovery exercises focus on learning about RSS news feeds and setting up a Bloglines account for yourself to bring your feeds together. Bloglines is a free, web-based newsreader. There are other ways to read RSS feeds besides Bloglines, such as GoogleReader. If you use Firefox or Internet Explorer 7, you can also subscribe to RSS feeds within your Internet browser. Or you can take a look at this review of 20 free RSS readers. Some are web services; others require downloading and installing software.

Now let's get started!

1. Check out some of these resources to learn about RSS:

• CNET Video: RSS – Feel the Need for Feeds [3:32] – a good overview of what RSS is and the benefits to users
  
  
• RSS : Because Fresh Tastes Best This text-based tutorial was created by Luke Rosenberger, Technology Librarian for the Lone Star College System
  
  
• How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way A fun explanation of RSS from a non-techie blog
  
  
• RSS Unleashed [4:34] A humorous video explanation of RSS, complete with an RSS costume
  

2. Take a look at this shared Bloglines account. The user, wcpl20, has chosen to make some of his/her feeds visible to the public. When you set up your own account, it will look much like this. Each of the folders on the left part of the Bloglines page contains several RSS feeds. Be sure to open each folder to see what's inside. Recognize any of the blogs? Click on a feed to see the latest updates. Be sure to take a look at the Libraries Use 2.o folder to see how some other libraries are making use of blogs and RSS.

3. Set up your own Bloglines account! Go to www.bloglines.com/register and fill in the information. Be sure to remember the email address and password that you use. If you have any trouble getting registered, watch this tutorial: Bloglines Registration [1:09]. After you register, Bloglines will send an email to the address you register with. Be sure to log in to that email account and follow the directions in the email from Bloglines to validate your Bloglines account.

4. Now you're going to add some feeds to your account. To learn how to do this, watch this video: Adding RSS Feeds to Bloglines [1:15] (created by Helene Blowers of PLCMC).

5. Now add these 5 feeds to your account. If you watched the Adding RSS Feeds to Bloglines video, you know what to do with the links below. When you add the feeds, be sure to choose Public for the Access option.

• WCPL Learning 2.0: wcpllearning20.blogspot.com
  


• Wake Reads Together Blog:http://wakereads08.wordpress.com/
  


• Flip the Switch - WCPL Teen Blog: http://wakecounty.wordpress.com/
  


• PLCMC Reader’s Club new review feeds: http://www.readersclub.org/rss/newreviews.aspx
  


• Unshelved (library cartoons): http://www.unshelved.com/rss.aspx
  

6. Set your account to be shared. While logged into Bloglines, click on the Account link on the top right part of the screen. Go to the Blog Settings section and enter a User Name. For Show My Blogroll; select Yes, publish my Blogroll. Click the Save Changes button.

Now anyone can see your list of feeds at this address: http://www.bloglines.com/public/username (substitute your user name on the end).

7. One last thing: create a comment for this post which includes the link to your public Bloglines page.

Did you get all that? If so, you should definitely feel proud of yourself. This is probably the longest, most difficult section of Learning 2.0.

If you're struggling with any of the exercises above, try asking your co-workers for help. Or post a comment here. Don't be shy; if you have a question someone else probably does, too.

When you're ready, go on to Thing #6.