Friday, January 9, 2009

RSS Feeds


I viewed RSS in Plain English on Youtube today that I found by exploring the tutorials section of the EC&I 831 Blog and decided to experiment a little. I'm not sure I completely understood everything as I set up a g-mail account for myself (kicode2@gmail.com) and I explored Google Reader. And I'm not sure I had to use reader to benefit from RSS. However, I think I understand that when you use reader, it will let you know when the sites you are interested in get updated; I suspect the more I become familiar with reader the more I will see its benefits.
What I discovered about RSS though, was it acts much like favourites when you use the feeds or RSS button next to favourites. A small discovery, but nevertheless a discovery!
I can't say enough about learning from Youtube; the above mentioned site from Youtube helped me understand that Google Reader will save a person time when they are attempting to keep up with the news from multiple sites. I have lots more to learn here though.

4 comments:

thekyleguy said...

I use G-reader to subscribe to blogs too. Although, I need to purge some of the blogs I am no longer interested in. I would advise you to install the 'subscribe' button on to your firefox toolbar. (I think you can get to the buttons through the settings page.) Having the subscribe button makes the process of subscribing quick and painless. Once you find a blog or site that offers an RSS feed, you just click the subscribe button and it links you to your G-reader page where you can finalize the process. Hope this helps a bit. Have fun!

SKing said...

I haven't yet tried Firefox, but I think I should as Alec Couros also recommends it. I appreciate the comment and it is fun!

Anonymous said...

If you are running Windows Vista part of the gadget toolbar has a free RSS reader that's handy - I use it at work as I have to have a lot of browser windows. I will say this - the Vista RSS reader doesn't accept reads from Firefox, but other than that quirk - I love Firefox as a web browser.

PS I was also in the Elluminate session Jan 21 and it was great to participate without having a mark hanging over my head!

SKing said...

Thanks Jon K. for your feedback. I appreciate your comments about learning without evaluation. The world would be a better place without grades!!! Boy that's a big jump from where I was when I began teaching.