Week 4, Thing 8

RSS feeds have certainly altered the way Internet users share information.  Although misunderstood, the concept isn't difficult to understand.  The video provided by Common Craft was an excellent tutorial of RSS feeds.

During our Database Searching class, I was having difficulty importing resources into RefWorks.  Curiously it was only one database that made it difficult.  Thanks to the RSS feed option, I was able to import the resources quickly and effectively.  Thus I find RSS feeds to be a huge time saver.

I follow Blogs through Blogger to get ideas for crafts, books, and programming ideas.  Blogger will display posts of those I follow, however the posts are small and difficult to read.  I explored Google Reader to find it will also display the Blogs I follow.  It was wonderful!  The posts were large and easy to read.  I will absolutely be using Google Reader.  Is there anything better than Google?  Here is a link to my public page of shared items:  http://www.google.com/reader/shared/CorinneHollis?hl=en

Sometimes it is difficult to locate the RSS feed on a webpage.  The typically used bright orange icon usually makes it easy to spot, however if a website is not visually pleasing or nicely organized, it can be difficult to find.


Librarians in both public and school libraries can find RSS feeds helpful.  Creating a list to export to teachers of various Internet tools to utilize in the classroom.  Or share a list of author websites educators would be interested in.  For older students, an entire unit can be created for RSS feeds and how students can utilize RSS feeds.  For public librarians, creating and sharing websites on specific topics for parents and educators is just one example.