RSS (Really Simple Syndication)Feed

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 1

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

While Waiting ~

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability2

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010

Visit the http://www.ednews.org/ and locate the RSS feed at the bottom of the page and review the possible connections. Visit the New York Times at : http://newyorktimes.com bottom of the page, review the different feeds available

Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship Student Learning and Academic Performance

1. Digital Access: full electronic participation in society2. Digital Literacy: the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology3. Digital Communication: electronic exchange of information

School Environment and Student Behavior

4. Digital Security & Safety: electronic precautions to guarantee safety/physical well-being in a digital technology world5. Digital Etiquette: electronic standards of conduct or procedure6. Digital Rights and Responsibilities: those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world

Student Life Outside the School Environment

7. Digital Commerce: electronic buying and selling of goods8. Digital Health and Wellness: physical and psychological well-being9. Digital Law: rights and restrictions

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 3

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

Links:

www.digitalcitizenship.net www.digitalcitizenshiped.com/Curriculum.a

spx www.netsmartz.org http://cybersmart.org/ www.bpscybersafety.org/index.html www.staysafeonline.info/

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 4

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

5

Standard 2 Demonstrate the responsible use of technology and an understanding of ethics and safety issues in using electronic media at home, in school, and in society.

Standard 3Demonstrate the ability to use technology for research, critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.

Standards Addressed:

SPS Technology Department5

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

By the end of this session you will be able to answer the following

questions. What is RSS? How do I access RSS? What are the advantages of RSS? What is RSS used for? How do I create RSS Feeds? How do I view RSS feeds?

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 6

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability7

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010

You will demonstrate this by ~

Being able to discuss what a RSS feed is and what it is used for and also by being able to sign up for appropriate feeds to obtain additional information.

What is RSS feed? RSS provides a convenient way for

content publishers to distribute information in a standardized format. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once, and then viewed by many different programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. A common example of RSS content is sources of information such as news headlines that are frequently updated.

The benefit of RSS is the aggregation of all content from multiple Web sources in one place. You no longer have to visit different Web sites for news, weather, blogs, and other information. With RSS, summaries of content are delivered to you, and then you decide which specific articles you want to read by clicking a link.

http://www.problogger.net/what-is-rss/

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 8

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

How do I access RSS?

•The delivery mechanism for RSS content is known as an RSS feed. There are millions of RSS feeds that consist of headlines or short summaries of content with a link provided to the original source. The feeds can also contain the complete content, and include attachments of almost any type. Other names for RSS feeds are Web feeds, XML feeds, RSS channels, and syndicated content.•You can discover new RSS feeds in several ways. On Web sites that offer this feature, you might see the In some Web browsers, such as Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 7, when you click these buttons, you can subscribe to the associated feed.•You can also enter the Internet address, known as the URL, of an RSS feed directly in Outlook.

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 9

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

Tip

 Looking for additional RSS Feeds? There are several Web sites on the Internet that maintain large listings of available RSS Feeds. These sites include Syndic8.com, CompleteRSS, and Search 4 RSS.

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 10

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

What are the advantages of RSS?

Time saving because you can stay ahead of what’s new without having to browse every site you normally visit.You can control the articles you want to readSPAM messages are often deleted or are filtered because of cluttered mailboxes.Opt-In user elect which feed they want to subscribeSyndication-RSS is a defined standard for syndicating content, feeds extend Steady stream of fresh web content

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 11

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

What is RSS used for?Initially RSS was restricted to News Headlines. As RSS’ popularity has increased the uses for RSS have expanded. Common uses for RSS include:

• Blogs – summaries of daily blog posts• Newsletters – synopses of newsletters alerting users that a new newsletter is available• Weather Alerts – notification of severe weather • Press Announcements – new product announcements• Specials or Discounts – weekly deals or discount offers for customers• Calendars – listings of upcoming events, deadlines or holidays

Common Industry specific uses for RSS include:• Service Industry – notification of viruses or security alerts• Real Estate – listings of open houses or new homes on the market• Schools – homework listings• Restaurants – lunch or dinner specials• Law Enforcement – announce sexual predators in area

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 12

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

How do I create a RSS feed?

RSS feeds can be created using :

• a text editor• using desktop software• Or simply using your email address and clicking on the rss feed button to

In order to use a text editor you must be familiar with all of the fields and accepted formats. The following sites can be used as resources:

http://www.rss-specifications.comhttp://www.make-rss-feeds.com

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 13

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

Your turn

Clicking on an RSS feed you would like to obtain additional information about

An example would by going to http://wwlp.com and clicking on the rss feed button.

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 14

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

Checklist to assess what you have learned?Can you answer the following questions: What is RSS? How do I access RSS? What are the advantages of RSS? What is RSS used for? How do I create RSS Feeds? How do I view RSS feeds?

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 15

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability

Resources:

ISTE Publications, Digital Citizenship in Schools by Mike Ribble and Gerald Bailey, copyright 2007, ISBN No: 978-1-56484-232-9. 

http://www.rssfeeds.com/

Created 6-2-2010 Revised 6/9/2010 16

Office of Information, Technology and Accountability