Thing #8: Learn about RSS feeds

information hydrant
Originally uploaded by Will Lion

You've heard of RSS? You've probably seen those little orange icons on websites, but maybe you still don't know what RSS is all about. Well, don't worry, many people are confused by RSS, but this is changing rapidly. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionising the way news, media and content creators share information, but it is also changing the way everyday users are consuming information.
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication", and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web.

Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit every day. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it? Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

To learn more about RSS, start by watching this short video from Commoncraft, RSS in Plain English:

Discovery Exercise:

Your discovery exercise for this "thing" is to set up your very own RSS reader. Seeing that you now have an active Google account (the one you used to set up your own blog in Blogger), it may be easiest to use Google Reader. Here's another video from Commoncraft, explaining how Google Reader works. Alternatively, there are many other RSS readers available that you can use - there's even one in Lotus Notes (but you're on your own if you choose to use that one!).

Once you've got your RSS reader setup, see if you can add this blog to your feeds, and some of your colleagues' blogs too!

Finally, create a post in your blog about this exercise. Many earlier postings have noted that it's becoming challenging to filter the huge volume of information available online these days - do you think an RSS reader will help?