Keeping Track of all the Blogs

One of the problems with reading blogs is keeping track of which sites are updated when. In the past, readers would need to visit the website of every blog to see if there was a new post. This ended up being an incredible waste of time. Enter RSS.

Real Simple Syndication (RSS)

Real Simple Syndication allows blog readers a way of subscribing to a particular blog using either a program on their computers or a website devoted to subscriptions. Once the subscriptions are established, readers need only run the program or visit a single site to catch up on all the new blog posts.

From an education standpoint, RSS is a real timesaver. Even if a teacher has only one class blogging, that could mean keeping up to date on thirty+ blogs. Using RSS, the teacher could visit one website and know which of her students had updated their blogs.

RSS Definitions

• RSS - Real Simple Syndication
• RSS feed or feed - The specific URL readers subscribe to. Think of it like the blog's frequency on the radion.
• Syndicated - A website is said to be syndicated when it has a feed available.
• Aggregator - A program or website for subscribing to RSS feeds.

How RSS Works

" RSS works by having the website author maintain a list of notifications on their website in a standard way. This list of notifications is called an "RSS Feed". People who are interested in finding out the latest headlines or changes can check this list. Special computer programs called "RSS aggregators" have been developed that automatically access the RSS feeds of websites you care about on your behalf and organize the results for you. (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes called "RSS Channels" and "RSS Readers".)

"Producing an RSS feed is very simple and hundreds of thousands of websites now provide this feature, including major news organizations like the New York Times, the BBC, and Reuters, as well as many weblogs. --from What is RSS, a tutorial by softwaregarden.com.

Aggregator Options

There are quite a few options available for subscribing to RSS feeds (see the list below for just a few possibilities). I strongly recommend using a web-based option, especially for educators. Web-based options have the advantage of being computer independent, so if the class goes down to the computer lab or the teacher wants to check blog posts from home, it can all be done online.

Web-based

Bloglines - Not the only option, but the one I prefer. We will make bloglines accounts during the workshop to practice using RSS.

Newsgator

Windows

Newz Crawler

Feed Demon

Macintosh

Newsfire

NetNewsWire