RSS for Teaching and Learning

• Allows changing web-content to be delivered directly to you-- rather than clicking to different sites to check yourself.
• Can be used for a number of formats, from text to video.
• Rss used to be only readable by aggregators such as Feed Reader http://www.feedreader.com/. But now, most browsers, particularly Firefox and Opera, have readers built in.
• Because their content changes frequently, news sites are one of the primary users of RSS
  • http://news.bbc.co.uk/
  • http://www.nytimes.com/
• Podcasts are also RSS

• RSS feeds are an XML file that contains links and information that a news reader or aggregator can interpret.
  • https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/awweiss/browser/rss/browser.xml

• Three ways
• as a consumer (subscribing to a feed)
• as a producer (making a feed)
• as a consumer and producer (making a website dynamic)

• What does one need to subscribe to RSS? Opera and Firefox are the easiest way to get started.

• can you create an RSS feed yourself? Good heavens yes!
  • https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/awweiss/browser/rss/index.html
• Use the University's Web Tools toolkit to create and display feeds.
  • https://webtools.uiuc.edu/toolbox/
• But the easiest way to get involved in RSS is just to Blog

• http://www.rss-to-javascript.com/
• Setting up a feed in a website or Compass site
• Broadcasting a Blog

• A One-pager How-To on Blogger Options & Using RSS to Create Feeds inside Your Online Course
  • http://www.seedwiki.com/Accounts/Mills_Douglas_18174/MiniHow-Tos.pdf