What is RSS?

“RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually.” — Explanation from What Is RSS?

• RSS in Plain English

• RSS Resources

RSS Feeds and Readers Tutorial

Watch a UPS Instructional Technology video tutorial about what RSS feeds and readers are, and how to use them.

• RSS Feed Tutorial (Quicktime)
• RSS Feed Tutorial (Windows media)

The tutorial has also been divided into three parts for convenience.

Quicktime

• Part 1 - Introduction to RSS feeds and readers (00:01:37)
• Part 2 - How to use a feed reader - Google Reader (00:02:02)
• Part 3 - Types of feed readers - desktop and online (00:01:09)

Windows media

• Part 1 - Introduction to RSS feeds and readers (00:01:37)
• Part 2 - How to use a feed reader - Google Reader (00:02:02)
• Part 3 - Types of feed readers - desktop and online (00:01:09)

Recommended RSS feed readers

• FeedDemon (windows)
• BlogBridge (mac, windows, linux)
• NetNewsWire (mac)
• Google Reader (online)
• Omea (online)
• Bloglines (online)

Examples

If you’d like to try RSS but aren’t sure where to start, try subscribing to a few of these sites.

University of Puget Sound

• UPS - Instructional Technology - Simple: our subscription link is on the left side of the page with an orange icon and is labeled Feed, Subscribe via RSS

• Dr. Dolen’s Divinations - Simple: very obvious orange subscription icon near the top of the page. Professor Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s Blog.

• UPS Department of Politics and Government blog - Harder: orange icon is on the right side of the address bar. Blog has updates for and about faculty, students, and alumni

Technology and Education

• Language Lab Unleashed - Simple: orange icon is at the top right of the page. Site is a blog and podcast for language teachers
• Center for History and New Media - Simple: orange icon is at the bottom of the page. Site “uses digital media and technology to preserve and present history online”

• Lifehacker - Harder: has a tiny orange icon at the top/middle of the page. Site contains technology tips, tricks, and downloads

• The Chronicle of Higher Education - Hardest: no orange icon; has a grey link at very bottom of the page says “RSS Feeds”. Site has news, information, and jobs for university faculty and administrators

• TED Blog - Hardest: no orange icon; has a red link near the top right says “RSS Feed.” Site has ideas about technology, entertainment, and design

News Sites

• BBC News - Simple: orange icon at the top right of the page

• Tacoma News Tribune - Simple: has small orange icons for each category on the page

• The New York Times online - Harder: has an orange icon near the bottom of the page/multiple RSS feed categories to choose from

Misc.

• Boing Boing - Harder: has an orange icon at the very bottom of the page. Site is an eclectic directory of things from around the internet

IT staff member Randy Thornton was invited to be the opening speaker at Lewis and Clark College’s annual Faculty Technology Institute on May 19th.

The topic was “Start Teaching with Web 2.0 Tools” and was an introduction for faculty who are interested in starting to add Web 2.0 tools such as tagging, blogging, wikis and social network to their teaching repertoire. Several UPS faculty sites were used as examples, including some on the Showcase.

The slides of the presentation are available here on Google Docs.