For Class Discussion (to prepare in advance):
RSS tools have experienced radical changes over the years. The most dominant player, Google Reader is gone (many people were dismayed and unhappy, but it is what it is), and other Web tools and social media have added RSS features within its own. Of course, some other RSS tools and services have come up to take place Google Reader's roles. There are other tools also that are not exactly RSS, but have gained niche places to help people better organize a large amount of information. RSS and these tools are to manage information (that is rapidly changing and growing) more effectively and efficiently.
RSS tools have experienced radical changes over the years. The most dominant player, Google Reader is gone (many people were dismayed and unhappy, but it is what it is), and other Web tools and social media have added RSS features within its own. Of course, some other RSS tools and services have come up to take place Google Reader's roles. There are other tools also that are not exactly RSS, but have gained niche places to help people better organize a large amount of information. RSS and these tools are to manage information (that is rapidly changing and growing) more effectively and efficiently.
- RSS in Plain English by Lee and Sachi Lefever (3.5 minutes)
Popular Tools - Course Google Site at https://sites.google.com/site/idt351class/
Google has posted an announcement about their decision to no longer support Google Reader and suggested several alternative tools here. Google is not the only one who suggested alternatives. More can be found here.* Disclaimer as of Mar 02, 2015 - It is amazing and surprising to see how changes are fast in the arena of RSS tools. The second popular tool, Blogline after Google Reader is now gone for about a month and half. Implications or conclusion? Well, RSS tools are very powerful and useful, but the learning curve is a tiny bit higher and many tools are merging/adding RSS features onto their own. Once you learn more about RSS tool, you will see that it has a heavy emphasis on learning and information, which might be another reason for slow adoption compared to entertainment or pleasure/fun oriented tools.
RSS tools are similar in terms of core features. (1) They provide search feature. You should see that web sites/services where content updates are frequent, they are a good candidate for having RSS features (e.g., news, journals, library search results, discussion threads, etc. - you can enter the name of the web site/journal name directly to the tool's search field, or from any website you visit and see the orange "rss" button, if you click it, popular RSS subscription tools should pop up. (2) They allow you to organize your subscriptions by folders or categories. (3) They allow you to export/import subscriptions across similar services - most popular tools also allow you to share your subscription(s) with others. In the lab, we will visit popular news sites, journals, and library search results, and each time, will see how the page can be incorporated into your RSS subscription.
- Feedly
- Feedspot
- And more RSS tools or feeders - Some are for desktop and platform specific
- RSS Mix (web service) - If students work on research or web search, their search URLs can be combined and created into a RSS feed
- If you know HTML code and DreamWeaver, this service automatically converts any RSS feed into a JavaScript code, which you can insert within a <div> </div> tag. This way, from 250, you learned how to create events/news on the site, and allow people to subscribe to your web page (RSS to Javascript)
- Netvibes, Flipboard, vs. MyYahoo - Each tool allows you to add many panels/flakes to a single web page. The first two allow you to organize panels by different RSS feeds (if the web site provides RSS feeds). As of 2/16/2014, Pageflakes' DNS registration has expired (and this is strange, people expect that to come back soon). Google also used to have a feature called iGoogle that is similar to MyYahoo, then discontinued its service recently. Case in point? Invest in big pictures, major functionalities - things will change, and you can catch up quickly!
Further Resources
- Blog search from Google or Technorati's watchlist - same action as above can be done
- Social search (social media search)
You can comment on any of the following:
- How have you managed a lot of resources or information you have found on the Web? Have you used RSS or any tools introduced here before, or any other similar tool to better track or organize your subscriptions?
- Which features or functions did you find as very useful from which tool? How will you use the tool/service more in the future?
- For more active and better use of the RSS or information organization tool in class or training, what would you suggest?
36 comments:
The RSS did not create an information overload for me. I added about 10 pages into Google reader and then organized them into folders such as news, sports, etc. That way I am able to click on the folder that I would like to read about. I think there are many strengths to the tool. The biggest being that it is such a time saver. Also it allows you to quickly skim through the titles to see if you are even interested in reading the blog or article at hand. The only tool that i have really tried is Google Reader, although I have messed around with PageFlakes. I think PageFlakes is more comparable to iGoogle then Google Reader. The only reason for that is PageFlakes is not just a Reader.
The RSS is something that i have personally used before in ways that have helped me. me being an IDT major i have utilized google reader RSS feeds to suscribe and keep track of the web pages i have intrest in. it did not create any overload of news or anything. it saved the news on the pages as i requested and wanted. i have used this to inorder to further research the filed of IDT and all the information has been accurate. i have based my informations of the RSS feeds that i have recieved and it gave me more insight on what it really does and how it can be utilize in various settings.i think the big diffrence i can point out between google reader and pageflakes is my familiarity with google reader, i think that google reader is more user friendly than pageflakes and i have great intrest in using RSS more in the near future.
This class is the first time that I have used Google Reader. I felt that it is a very handy tool because you subscribe to the different websites of your choice and when you log in you are able to read the most recent news or stories. I did not really care for the setup; it reminded me to much of Gmail. Although this is a helpful tool, I find Pageflakes to be more user friendly. You are able to customize the page to look anyway that you want. You can use different templates and organize the flakes into any format you like. In addition you are able to visually see updates from the sites you are subscribed to. So although Google Reader lets you know the number of updates the website, I feel the user friendly set up is key. This is one of the main reasons why I enjoyed using Pageflakes more. If Google Reader was set up similar to Pageflakes, I feel like I would enjoy Google Reader more. IGoogle is sort of a combination of both of these, so I might consider signing up for this to get the best of both worlds.
I did not know before this last week that such tools existed. When I first started using google reader I was a little bit overwhelmed. The Overall layout I think was part of the problem. I had a hard time getting back to some of the articles I was looking at. Trying to figure out which pages to add was a bit of a challenge. In the end I managed about 12 pages which I then sorted into different folders. I like that the information comes to me rather then having to go look for it myself all the time. I would say that I prefer to use Pageflakes. The it has a layout that can be changed, it has suggestions and customizable parts. Currently I will use a RSS for finding more information on subjects that interest me.
Although I can understand the usefulness of aggregators such as GoogleReader, I am simply unable to get into them. I have a GoogleReader account and have attempted to use it multiple times. In the end I return to my usual method of visiting individual websites. An aggregator may be quicker at this, but I can browse my favorite sites rather efficiently. However, I do not consistently research content in my field; my professors normally provide literary criticism to go over in class, and my nineteen credit hour load leaves little room for my own personal exploration. In the future, I probably will use an aggregator to support my professional life. I would probably chose a service like PageFlakes over GoogleReader, though. The monotony of Google's minimalist design bores me, and GoogleReader offers little room for customization, other than folder organization. PageFlakes offers various themes, personal organization of your feeds, and an user-friendly interface.
RSS is something new to me and probably not to the rest of the planet. I have not used RSS until I had taken IDT 351. I figured that it was just an add on for your tool bar and I really did not need anymore add-on's. I have heard about it from other classes but never really pay any attention to it. RSS is a way for you to keep track of new trends in whatever you may be interested in. For example I started getting RSS feeds from Wired.com. I am always interested in new technology and such. Since subscribing to the RSS, I have new developments in news coming to me, which is a change for me since I am always looking for the newest developments on my own. I have been using Google Reader for my RSS feeds, however, if you don’t use Google much, you can always use the little symbol for RSS, sometimes located on your left hand side of your search bar. This symbol will show up if you are on a site, which allows you to subscribe to, new and site updates.
RSS it not to bad of a source. It did not create a information overload at all. I was able to actually organize and receive news feed and updated fairly quickly and efficiently. Some major strengths of RSS is that it is spam free It gives the power of subscription to the user. Users are given a free-hand on which websites to subscribe in their RSS aggregators which they can change at any time they decide differently. This is the first time I used this feature and it is pretty promising. It can be shared in class by showing how to utilize the search and news feeds.
It is very interesting to see the split opinion regarding the use of PageFlakes, and preference variations between Google Reader vs. PageFlakes. Interestingly, my preference between PageFlakes and Netvibes is the latter. It is also interesting to see how people perceive the usefulness and are willing to adopt the RSS or not. As many point out (Nicole J, Chanse, Menkiti, etc.), RSS is great for info to come to you and you can organize or delete, suffle, and what has not been shared yet, RSS lists can be exported and shared with many others. I invite you to compare RSS/pageflake way of managing information to week 8's social bookmarking approaches.
I didn't have any experience with RSS feeds before this class but now that I'm learned how to utilize it, I think its changed how I look at the web. Prior to using RSS I just bookmarked webpages in my browser which I thought worked well enough. As a journalism major I follow several columnists who publish articles and blogs. Rather than having to check their blog and their webpage, RSS does it for me. Google Reader was the only RSS that I've used so far and I plan to continue using it. Maybe if I reach the point where I think a different tool could be more productive for me I will try another. I really like how you can integrate Google Alerts and Blog Search right into the RSS feed.
Google Reader is very useful to use because to my understanding of it used to publish frequently updated work-such as blog, news, headlines, audio, and, video in a standardized format. These makes it easier to have new info sent to you, without going back to the same site; just in case if you forgot where you find it. I probably would use it in the future.
Back in my young days whenever I found out about a site I like I use to just “Favorite” it. Actually I still do it till today. Another way for me to get updates on a site I was interested in, I sign up for Newsletter. That means whenever the site makes any updates I would receive it in an E-mail. I use that for sites such as: GameStop, IGN, YouTube, and etc. I have not used any of the RSS tools provided, I have heard of how to use RSS though but I just never found a need to use it. From looking at all the tools I like how it has the things you are interested in concentrated all in one place. So instead going and visiting each individual sites, you can go to one of all the RSS tool sits provided and see whether they updated their site or not. I like Feedly so far it is really simple to use, all I had to do was just create an account and if I want to add a RSS feed just copy and paste the URL and press “Follow” button that is really simple. I also like MyYahoo, because it is essentially yahoo just with the ability to use RSS. News are posted and as or presentation it is really good, not boring like the others. As for class I’ll say use NetVibes for the most part it seems really professional and holds a broad array of information.
I do not have any experiences using RSS feeds, but after monday's class, I read about it and get a better understanding of it. I can summarize what I know about RSS as the following:
RSS flips things around a little and is a technology that provides you with a method of getting relevant and up to date information sent to you for you to read in your own time. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published. RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Many people describe it as a ‘news feed’ that you subscribe to.
The first thing you’ll want to do if you’re getting into reading sites via RSS is to hook yourself up with an RSS Feed Reader.
There are many feed readers going around with a variety of approaches and features – however a good place to start is with a couple of free and easy to use web based ones like Google Reader and Bloglines. Either one will do if you’re starting out (I started to use Google’s Reader) – as I say there are many others to choose from but to get started either of these are fairly easy to use and will help you work out the basics of RSS.
I didn't use any RSS feeds until class on monday, but since then i have used them almost everyday because they are vey helpful. I manage my feedly site into 6 different categories. (school, cars, German, technology, pictures, and health/wellbeing). i like being able to read multiply feeds at once and that it choose what i would like to read and i don't have search the web for something to read. i am going to use this to tool to find new things to eat new work outs, and just staying up to date with news on car companies. i would suggest that we use this tool a lot more cause its, very helpful, and fun! i believe it will be able to help us on upcoming projects.
I have never used RSS feeds before Monday. In the past I would just bookmark the site or favorite it. I find that RSS feeds help keep track of all the information better. Instead of trying to visit multiple sites I can have just that one. Feedly is really nice to have since I can just copy and paste the URL. Its easy and I will probably continue to use it in the future.
“How have you managed a lot of resources or information you have found on the Web? Have you used RSS or any tools introduced here before, or any other similar tool to better track or organize your subscriptions?”
I have a few ways I normally manage resources and information I find on the web. None of these involve bookmarks; I am weird and like to keep my browser pretty much clean. My most used method is to simply put things in different tags, and organize those tags on different windows. If I need to find something, like my student email, I simply pull up my “communications” window and click the correct tab. It is all very easy and streamlined. If I need to end my current session, but I have stuff I want to return to, I email it to myself. I can then resume everything from where I left off at a later time. This works because I don’t need to worry about updates to things being to frequent anyway.
I do not really use this kind of tool, though. Really, I don’t worry too much if I miss updates on things: anything that important is going to be hard to miss anyway. The world will not end simply because I missed something. I don’t even have any subscriptions to worry about.
I did find these tools to be useful though. They would allow me to keep track of things, even if I can keep track of most of it easily enough, and they would encourage me to actually use the internet more; I have a tendency to not bother with it if I don’t have a reason to. I think I might start using them.
They way I choose to organize information is if I like the page I add them to my favorites list or I bookmark them. I have never really used RSS before. The first time I heard about it was when google announced they were discontinuing the google reader. Thought it was a good idea but was unsure where to go since the google reader was going down. The only other tool that I think is close to RSS would be setting up email subscription so you get something similar to a news letter every time something new comes out they want you to read.
I have never used RSS before. It seems like a lot of information I'd never read. If I want continued information from a company, I typically sign up for a newsletter, or if I'm interested in one part of their website, I'd just bookmark it is Safari. When I get emails from the company, I occasionally read a few, but soon I start ignoring it. I think I'd do the same if I followed RSS feeds. However, I see the potential of such tool. If you do have the time, it's a great way to stay up on current events and learn things. I think NetVibes is a great site, though. It's not only RSS, but all the sites you typically use on a daily basis on one page. I could see integrating an RSS feed there being useful. Feedly, however, seems to be majorly RSS.
Class, I really love these threads. Overall, together, comments show everyone's solid understanding of what RSS is and which benefits it provides.
More interesting is the spectrum comments display in terms of attitude and adoption interests. From relatively passive (Jake and Haley) to avid adoption (Eric), what appears in general population are captured well, and every single post has great valid points and reasons to support his/her view. Class, I want you all to look at these variations, and realize the importance of learner analysis and scalable design/implementation.
As a person who likes visual cues to jog my memory, I have relied heavily upon Pinterest to organize my bookmarks by category. That is why I like using Feedly to manage my RSS feeds. They have a card view I like, which breaks the feeds into a grid with prominent pictures, titles and text previews and the reading experience is uncluttered. The best part is that Feedly makes it easy to pin articles to Pinterest. My only beef with Pinterest, however is that their search function is sometimes spotty and is definitely limited if I've been lazy about optimizing my pins for searchbility.
I tried out Netvibes and think it does some pretty amazing things but I can't get over the clutter! Then I discovered Diigo. I love that it can collect all kinds of focused information, archive web pages, and so much more. So I think my new plan is to continue using Feedly to manage my feeds and quickly pin items of interest to Pinterest. At the same time, I will tag those articles so that I can set up chain reactions in a service like IFTTT in order to send them tagged and search-ready to Diigo. This will allow me to later browse saved articles visually via Pinterest or by search terms via Diigo. The best of both worlds!
Angie, what you have described is very close to excellent content curation that is covered in week 10. How to better track, search, and organize various content sources has come a long way.
The tool that I used was Feedpost. There were a handful of features that I found particularly useful, but the one that I found particularly useful was how well the side panel worked. You’re able to create folders, pick favorites, and click on ones you want to see and have only those ones show up. It tells you which sites have uploaded new content, and the process of adding sites is simple. The side panel also gives you suggestions on who to follow based on who you’re already following. Feedpost also does a pretty decent job of working as a social media site, because there is also a feature that allows you to see your friend’s feeds. The search feature also works well in searching for sites and even articles, and you’re able to use certain filters to go even more in depth. Sadly though, I will not be using this tool more in the future. The concept of using RSS feeds is great, but the site requires too much money to have it run to the best of its ability. I also believe it’s not worth it because of the fact that I’m capable of finding the information I need, when I actually need it, without using a site that little to no one knows about. Facebook does a good enough job keeping me updated on the things that are trending all over the world, and Pinterest helps me find things that are appealing to me just be using a simple search.
Our group worked on the Feedly application. On the feedly page I added the Feedly logo to the top of the page. I also worked on the section applications for teaching and learning. I feel if you are just reading things from an RSS feed then there is really more point, but if you use the information that you found on the feed, and fact check the information for credibility, it can be quite useful.
The frailty of genius is that it requires an audience.
Our group, (Jim, Kathryn, myself) worked on the tool called Digg. This is a great tool to use if you are interested in finding interesting articles to view that you like. I had no idea what this tool was before this week, but have found that it can be very useful when looking for information or interesting articles of any kind. The part about Digg that I wrote about was the 'Bury' and 'Submit' features. The Bury feature is really cool because you are able to up vote an article or Bury it by simply selecting the drop down menu the article provides. This feature is here to inform Digg users and the author of how interesting the story really is. The other feature I found interesting was the 'Submit' feature. Digg makes it really easy to submit your story as all you have to do is select the 'Submit a Story' button on the page and give your article a title and a link with a little summary. This tool could come in handy down the road when searching for that specific information you are looking for.
I have never managed resources or information in the past. I had never heard of RSS before. I think it is a great tool. The only way I had “managed” my favorite website was to put them in my favorites tab that is built in to my browser. This is not the same as RSS at all because you still have to go and check each website and see if anything is updated. I wish I had heard about RSS before because I may have gotten into blogs and similar thing. I found a RSS feed that you can install in your Google chrome browser that is very simple interface and you don’t have to go to a website to use it. You just open Google Chrome and it is there. However, this is not the best tool because you have to use Google Chrome which not everyone uses plus you have to install in on the browser so it is not accessible from any browser but your own. With the tool digg, I liked the feature that you can search for a topic within the program. You can search in the website for a topic that interest you and lets you add those to your RSS feed. On the home page I also has articles that you can “digg”.
i did not use RSS feeds before. And after i read about it,i found that RSS is useful tool that instead of having to go out to each individual website and see if there is any new content, content comes to you in one centralized location which save time.
By using an RSS, we can easily scan through content, organized them, and read each article to decide which ones are worth reading right away.
I didn't use any kind of RSS feed before. But as looking through the feedly, I found this one is really nice RSS feed application. It gives you the liberty to choose what you want to see, and organize the magazine by yourself. I would like say that we could use the RSS feed to get the update of any class information so that everyone could catch all the details that happening in the class.
This is the first time that I use RSS feeds, but after searching more about it I think that it is a great tool, because it allows you to easily stay informed by saving the latest content from the sites your are interested in. Also you can save time by not needing to visit each site individually.
I can honestly say I have not really managed the resources I have found on the web, besides bookmarking sites I go to for information or putting frequently used sites in my favorites. I have not used any RSS tools before hearing about them in class. I have heard of them before but I had never actually been told what they were or how they work specifically. I found with most of them, the fact that you can have custom information that you want to see being presented to you all in one space. This seems a lot easier than bouncing back and forth between web pages / tabs in your browser. I have actually started using DIGG after last weeks lesson and I do have to say it makes my life easier to see the content I want to in a simpler matter. I would suggest that in a more educational setting RSS feeds could be used in conjunction with certain courses in order to enhance the practicality. In other words if I were in a class about modern history / wars, it would be useful to have feeds set up that show me that particular information as a way to prep for class or to be used for discussions. It does have use, I don't see it really being adapted anytime soon but it does have potential if the right tool with the correct settings is created to be used in education.
I don’t really manage the resources that I have found on the web. I have never used an RSS tools or anything similar before. Some features that I found useful, from RSSOwl, are the Search News, which lets you search across all news that you are subscribed to. Another feature is the Export Wizard, which lets you to export your list of subscriptions.
I've never used an RSS feed in the past. The way I normally use the internet, I actually think this would not be a necessary tool. There are a few sites that I check regularly, but I don't feel that having a tool remind me of updates is something that I need. Of course, I do not follow a lot of blogs. If I did, I think RSS would be more useful. This makes me think of the warning about allowing algorithms and applications to decide what we see. While I like to check a lot of the same sites frequently, I like to broaden my search and find new perspectives and information about subjects. If I relied too much on RSS feeds to get my information, I think that my perspective of that information would be skewed. You need to get more than one opinion in order to make better judgements on information, and often you need to add a few more steps in your search to get that different perspective.
I have never used rss before and am not very familiar with it. However I think that if you use it, it will make it easier to browse and organize the things that you search for. Finding what you want is a lot easier and more efficient when you use rss.
It was great to see individuals and teams played with different tools: Digg, RSSOwl, Feedly, and Feedpost (check Google Site tutorial page). In class, I will ask each to be briefly reviewed by those who created a tutorial. Please look at Jimmy's interesting comment. Many including Lucia, Asmaa, and Kathryn shared benefits of having a permanent access, and Courtney noted some useful features, such as search and filter within collected resources. My counter argument to Jim is that if multiple and proper/diff resources (e.g., journals, web, news, magazine) are bookmarked, collective wisdom can address bias. Nick and Gu shared promising use of RSS in class. Courtney's point about RSS competing with other tools is a legit concern.
The way I have managed resources before in the past is by either bookmarking the webpage I found useful, or copying and pasting the links into a word document and adding notes near each link that I could go back and refer to when needed. Although I have not had experience with RSS tools in the past, I've learned that they are useful and way less time consuming. With an RSS feed I have access to the information I want without having to click on my bookmarks and search for the one I'm looking for, or searching for the word documents of links I saved.
I don't have much experience with rss, but I do believe it can much browsing experiences more efficient. It has a built in search feature and allows you to organize your subscriptions.
I had not used RSS before this class and this particular section we are studying. I now since then have been using RSS owl to keep up with some of the more interesting stories and feeds I'm interested in. Personal and professional just to keep a steady mix and not have just a serious feed but one that always seems to have something I find interesting that I would like to read and pay attention to.
Is there a page limit and added information? Can videos and pictures be uploaded?
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