RSS

What is it?

Not many people know about RSS, but it's one of the most useful tools we'll learn about. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Basically, an RSS reader will watch blogs or websites for you, and then tell you when they are updated. These updates are called “feeds.”  All of the updates / feeds are brought back to a single website for you to read. This saves you time because you don’t have to check lots of websites every day – you can just check your RSS reader.

You can use RSS readers to get feeds about news, weather, jokes, comics, information on hobbies, book reviews, etc.

1) Bloglines is a popular RSS reader. Check out the website at http://www.bloglines.com, and learn a little about the service.
 
2) Sign up for a Bloglines account. The easiest way to learn about RSS is by using it!  Bloglines will suggest some popular feeds that you may want to follow – choose one or two. Try reading one of them through your Bloglines account.

Now go to a website or blog that you regularly visit. Look for a link that says “RSS,” or the orange RSS icon (see image on right).
 
Here are some examples of sites with RSS feeds:

- CBC Calgary: http://www.cbc.ca/calgary (scroll down - small orange link is in a horizontal line near the middle of the page)
- Mashable: http://mashable.com/ (link in box on right side of page)
 
To add a feed to Bloglines, you can do one of two things. First, you can click on the link or icon, and add the site to your RSS feeds in Bloglines. When you are signed in, you should automatically get a box that says “Subscribe to this feed using Bloglines.” 

BUT the second way is probably easier, especially on work terminals!

Second way: Go to your Bloglines page. There is a link above your feeds, that says “Add.” This will give you a box where you can type the URL (address) of your website. Hit “subscribe,” and Bloglines will automatically check for feeds on that site.

3) In your blog, comment on the following:

•    Were you able to successfully set up your RSS feed? If not, where did you run into problems? If you were successful, does this make information-gathering more convenient for you?