Staying Current Using Blogs & RSS feeds

Amanda StoneSouth Carolina State

LibraryApril 19, 2007

Blogs A blog is a user-generated website

where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries.

A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.

Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), art (sketchblog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media.

(Wikipedia, 3/2007)

What’s in a blog?

Blogs in every flavor

• Websites you already visit, newspapers, local, state, & national organizations, associations, government agencies, libraries, universities, churches, authors, companies, politicians, candidates, professionals in every field, the passionate gardener down the block, the cranky geezer with political views

RSS

• Really Simple Syndication (among other things)

• Type of XML• Link between blogs

and you• Need an RSS reader

RSS (part II)

• RSS in XML form

RSS readers-RSS or news aggregators allow

you to subscribe to RSS feeds and read them in one place.

• Web-based readers– Bloglines, Google Reader,

MyYahoo• Client-side readers

– FeedReader, NetNewsWire• Plug-ins

– Firefox, Safari (Mac), IE7

Advantages of RSS

• All-in-one reading source• Helps keep track of both

frequently –and-infrequently updated sites

• Few spam or ads• Information presented how

*you* want it

Disadvantages of RSS

• Sometimes feeds just have headlines, not full-text

• The information you need may not have an RSS feed yet

• Information overload!

What’s available via RSS?• Blogs• And a whole lot more:

– Table of contents of journals– Search engine results– Newspaper articles (The State)– News, press releases, current

information– Weather, hurricane info, coupons,

package tracking, price watching, recipes, stock updates, calendar of events (cities, associations, theaters, etc), comics, traffic conditions

How to find blogs/RSS content• Things you already read• Blogrolls

Search Engines for RSS feeds• Feedster

http://www.feedster.com• Technorati http://Technorati.com• Google

http://blogsearch.google.com

Government & RSS• USA.gov-RSS Library

– Business, Consumer, Defense, Education, Environment, Community, Health, Safety, Reference, Science

• South Carolina agency RSS feeds– SC.gov– SCPRT– Department of Education– State Library– University & Colleges

Bloglines• Web-based RSS aggregator

How to subscribe

• Button• Firefox

Podcasts/Vodcasts•Podcasts are audio content tied to an RSS feed. Think of them as radio shows straight to your computer. Often sent to iTunes for iPod or other mp3 players

•Vodcasts (Vidcasts) are video content tied to an RSS feed.

Government & Podcasts

• Federal Podcasts– USA.gov-Podcasts from the U.S.

Government – Free Government Info-Government

Podcsts• South Carolina

– Employment Security Commission-Jobcast

– ETV• Other

– NPR, Politicians (Jim DeMint), Candidates (Barack Obama)

References/Resources

• Del.icio.us-http://del.icio.us/astonesc

• Information Trapping: Real-Time Research on the Web (book)

• Handout with links