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RSS Feeds


Definition:
learn_defin
 RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Summary). There are many tools that use RSS feeds to pull information to you. When we first started using the Internet we had to go to sites to get information. Now you can get information to come to you automatically by subscribing to feeds. (In the real world we can subscribe to a newspaper or magazine and it comes to you). These may be blogs, podcasts, news feeds from news sites, links from social bookmarking sites... Whenever the author of the site updates, the update automatically comes to you through your reader or aggregator.
Tools:
learn_usethis
 Use aggregators to pull in rss feeds. Learn about some available aggregators.
The aggregator will display part of the stories in the feeds; you can click on the ones you wish to read to get to the full article.

How to:
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 Subscribing to a feed
 When you go to a web site, you may see one of these symbols.
rss
  • if it is in the address bar (usually on the far right), you can click on it to get the feed address. This can then be added to your aggregator and the information will come to you automatically. Some of the symbols are specific to an application (iGoogle, Pageflakes...); these help you add the site to those specific aggregators automatically.
  • a site may have multiple feeds. For example, there is a link on the CBC site to its rss feeds with separate ones for different aspects of the news. You can select the one you want and subscribe to it.
More information on rss feeds
Pedagogical uses:
learn_idea		  An rss feed bring information to you; you can customize the information you get.
  1. Are you researching a particular topic in the news? Create a page in your aggregator to bring in information from different sources to compare it. Learn about bias as you compare the ways the same topic is treated in different sources. See Will Richardson's page on Darfur
  2. Do you want all the information as it comes on a particular topic?
    Create a google alert - type in your search string, add the other required information.
    Then edit your alerts (Manage your alerts)
    Click edit and change Deliver to - from email to rss
    Click on "feed" and you will now get the address which you can add to your aggregator
    Another way to do this is with a tool: Landmark RSS Feed Generator
  3. Many people are using social bookmarking sites and tagging resources. You can bring in resources that have been tagged on a particular topic.
Collaboration in the community:
collab3		 Creating a feed is one way to let your community know what is happening in your school, school board or class. Programs like Feed for all make creating a feed easy (you don't have to know how to program in xml). The LEARN site has several feeds which lets people know about different things happening, newsworthy items and more. To find all the feeds, click here.





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