Excursion #8: RSS Feed Tour Guides says…. Food food food….Yum. I'm hungry. I could use some feed. Hmm... Yeah, actually we're not talking about that kind of "feed"... What other kind is there? Come on! It has been five minutes since my last chocolate… don’t tease a hungry Tour Guide…. Sorry no food in this case…. We're actually talking about RSS feeds, which (depending on who you ask) stands for "Really Simple Syndication," or "Rich Site Summary," or "RDF Site Summary." In English please? RSS is a process through which you can streamline your online browsing. So let's use you as an example, shall we? Let me ask: when you are overseas, do you like to keep up with what is going on in Canada? Absolutely! I'm addicted to CBC News, The Globe and Mail, and The Star… Excellent! Well imagine if there was a way you could gather all of the new sites and pictures and gossip that's added to these favourite, frequently updated, websites and view that new material in one place, at one time and at your leisure, rather than having to track each of them down on their own individual web pages. These gathered updates, or "feeds" as they're called, make it possible for you to keep up with some of your favorite web sites in an automated manner. Sounds straightforward... But there's more to it than that. To get an idea of what an an RSS feed looks like, look for the RSS button 
or a rectangle with the words "XML" or “Subscribe to Stories like This” “RSS Feeds” The Star has an RSS feed. Go ahead and click on the Strar link and then on any orange RSS button on the right hand side of the web page. Oh, ah, wow, cool, …. You get a listing or summary of individual news events. Click on any blue entry for detailed information. But hold on now… look at the top yellow box… more ohs and ahs… There are three options to subscribe (scary word meaning only that you will get this added to your feeds). All are valid. However, we are going to work with Google Reader. RSS feeds are best understood using an RSS 'aggregator', also known as a newsreader or a news aggregator. An aggregator is a computer program that allows us humans to read RSS files. Google Reader is one such program. Okay, I'm still a little confused. I understand I'm not going to be fed, but what the heck is Google Reader? Google Reader is a Web 2.0 application that you register for, which in turn will collect new content from the websites you select, displaying that new content for you in one place. Go to one site and see all of your feeds displayed. *sing song voice* Still not getting it... Okay. Let's think of this in practical terms. For arguments sake, let's pretend you're addicted to the The Star website, and you're up until all hours of the morning, continuously refreshing the screen to see if the new news has been added. Wow. You're good. That pretty much describes my last vacation... Now let's say you register for a Google Reader account, and you subscribe to the The Star (Ontario news) as an RSS feed. Google Reader will notice when the new news appear on the website and will send them to your Google Reader account. In other words, Google Reader will bring the news to you, rather than you having to go to the news. This saves a tremendous amount of time. No more all-nighters refreshing the screen for those new news! So RSS saves me time? Yes! With RSS you can read lots of websites (or feeds) in the same amount of time you used to spend reading one. You're essentially avoiding all the information you've already read or seen, including advertisements, menus, outdated stories, etc. Okay, be patient with me because I'm still a little confused. What if I'm not addicted to a bunch of websites? What if I can barely keep up with the newspaper and I'm not interested in adding more reading to my plate? Why would I want to use Google Reader? Let's say you like to keep up to speed on the latest news and events. And let's say, to keep up to speed you'd (ideally) be reading the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Time, Macleans, Canadian Living, etc. This kind of reading can take awhile, right? I mean, that's a lot of content to absorb not to mention wading through stories that don't interest you and annoying advertisements just to get to the stuff you actually want. Following that many publications can be both tiring and frustrating. You're right. That would be a lot of work. And I'm already juggling a job, kids, a lawn that needs mowing... Although I'd like to stay current with world events, I don't always have the time to read a newspaper, let alone 4 or 5! To simplify the process, you can sign up for a Google Reader account and subscribe to feeds on (for example) the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Time, Macleans, and Canadian Living websites. Google Reader will do all the work for you: • Google Reader will scan these web pages for new articles that interest you (articles you haven't read) • Google Reader will send these articles to your Google Reader account. When you're ready, log-in to your account and read the new articles gathered from your web pages, tailored to suit the stories you want and the titles that interest you! I get it now! Great! Your Task To complete the assignment: 1. Go to Google Reader. 2. Sign in with your Google account information (the same email and password you use to log into your blog). Read through the welcome page and get yourself oriented with the Reader. 3. When you're ready, click SUBSCRIBE. 4. Use the search box that appears to search for websites (and consequently their feeds) you might enjoy: websites about cooking, baking, boating, gardening, fly fishing, travel, marching bands, cross stitch, composting, photography, spaghetti and meatballs, balloon animals, pony rides, cowboy boots, "Marie-Osmond-rules"... Whatever you want! 5. When you've found a website you think you'll enjoy and want to follow through feeds, click Subscribe. 6. And that's it! Now, all of the feeds (or new content added to that website) will come to your Google Reader account. When you're ready to read your feeds--to view the new content added to your account from the websites you've subscribed to--sign into your Google Reader account and enjoy your stories. 7. When you're done with Google Reader, go to your blog and write a new post answering the following questions: • What RSS feeds have you subscribed to? • Did you find Google Reader easy to use? • Will you continue to use the aggregator, Google Reader? 8. Click Publish Post. For the adventurous..: If you are like me, just remembering to go to Google Reader is a major effort. I have been having days where getting out of bed is the major achievement of the day.. So, asking me to remember to go to Google Reader… and never mind one more password… enough…. So, we use Outlook at work. What if I could have my RSS feeds come to Outlook? Major ohs and ahs….Check out this video by clicking here. Try adding some feeds to your Outlook. Now go to your Blog and let us know how it went. For a good video, check out our favourite group – Common Craft…
or a rectangle with the words "XML" or “Subscribe to Stories like This” “RSS Feeds” The Star has an RSS feed. Go ahead and click on the Strar link and then on any orange RSS button on the right hand side of the web page. Oh, ah, wow, cool, …. You get a listing or summary of individual news events. Click on any blue entry for detailed information. But hold on now… look at the top yellow box… more ohs and ahs… There are three options to subscribe (scary word meaning only that you will get this added to your feeds). All are valid. However, we are going to work with Google Reader. RSS feeds are best understood using an RSS 'aggregator', also known as a newsreader or a news aggregator. An aggregator is a computer program that allows us humans to read RSS files. Google Reader is one such program. Okay, I'm still a little confused. I understand I'm not going to be fed, but what the heck is Google Reader? Google Reader is a Web 2.0 application that you register for, which in turn will collect new content from the websites you select, displaying that new content for you in one place. Go to one site and see all of your feeds displayed. *sing song voice* Still not getting it... Okay. Let's think of this in practical terms. For arguments sake, let's pretend you're addicted to the The Star website, and you're up until all hours of the morning, continuously refreshing the screen to see if the new news has been added. Wow. You're good. That pretty much describes my last vacation... Now let's say you register for a Google Reader account, and you subscribe to the The Star (Ontario news) as an RSS feed. Google Reader will notice when the new news appear on the website and will send them to your Google Reader account. In other words, Google Reader will bring the news to you, rather than you having to go to the news. This saves a tremendous amount of time. No more all-nighters refreshing the screen for those new news! So RSS saves me time? Yes! With RSS you can read lots of websites (or feeds) in the same amount of time you used to spend reading one. You're essentially avoiding all the information you've already read or seen, including advertisements, menus, outdated stories, etc. Okay, be patient with me because I'm still a little confused. What if I'm not addicted to a bunch of websites? What if I can barely keep up with the newspaper and I'm not interested in adding more reading to my plate? Why would I want to use Google Reader? Let's say you like to keep up to speed on the latest news and events. And let's say, to keep up to speed you'd (ideally) be reading the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Time, Macleans, Canadian Living, etc. This kind of reading can take awhile, right? I mean, that's a lot of content to absorb not to mention wading through stories that don't interest you and annoying advertisements just to get to the stuff you actually want. Following that many publications can be both tiring and frustrating. You're right. That would be a lot of work. And I'm already juggling a job, kids, a lawn that needs mowing... Although I'd like to stay current with world events, I don't always have the time to read a newspaper, let alone 4 or 5! To simplify the process, you can sign up for a Google Reader account and subscribe to feeds on (for example) the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Time, Macleans, and Canadian Living websites. Google Reader will do all the work for you: • Google Reader will scan these web pages for new articles that interest you (articles you haven't read) • Google Reader will send these articles to your Google Reader account. When you're ready, log-in to your account and read the new articles gathered from your web pages, tailored to suit the stories you want and the titles that interest you! I get it now! Great! Your Task To complete the assignment: 1. Go to Google Reader. 2. Sign in with your Google account information (the same email and password you use to log into your blog). Read through the welcome page and get yourself oriented with the Reader. 3. When you're ready, click SUBSCRIBE. 4. Use the search box that appears to search for websites (and consequently their feeds) you might enjoy: websites about cooking, baking, boating, gardening, fly fishing, travel, marching bands, cross stitch, composting, photography, spaghetti and meatballs, balloon animals, pony rides, cowboy boots, "Marie-Osmond-rules"... Whatever you want! 5. When you've found a website you think you'll enjoy and want to follow through feeds, click Subscribe. 6. And that's it! Now, all of the feeds (or new content added to that website) will come to your Google Reader account. When you're ready to read your feeds--to view the new content added to your account from the websites you've subscribed to--sign into your Google Reader account and enjoy your stories. 7. When you're done with Google Reader, go to your blog and write a new post answering the following questions: • What RSS feeds have you subscribed to? • Did you find Google Reader easy to use? • Will you continue to use the aggregator, Google Reader? 8. Click Publish Post. For the adventurous..: If you are like me, just remembering to go to Google Reader is a major effort. I have been having days where getting out of bed is the major achievement of the day.. So, asking me to remember to go to Google Reader… and never mind one more password… enough…. So, we use Outlook at work. What if I could have my RSS feeds come to Outlook? Major ohs and ahs….Check out this video by clicking here. Try adding some feeds to your Outlook. Now go to your Blog and let us know how it went. For a good video, check out our favourite group – Common Craft… 
No comments:
Post a Comment