Thursday, March 5, 2009

Lesson 3: RSS Feeds

This lesson will give you an introduction to RSS feeds and readers. You will learn how to set up an RSS reader account, how to find and subscribe to RSS feeds, and see examples of Library RSS applications.

  1. View RSS in plain English (video): A great introduction to RSS by Commoncraft.
  2. View Slides from RSS presentation on Tuesday, March 3 (ppt)
  3. Read RSS (wikipedia article)
  4. Set up an RSS reader account. Google Reader and Bloglines are two of the most popular readers. Choose whichever reader you prefer. If you already have a Google account, you can use the same username and password for Google Reader.
  5. View Getting Started with Google Reader (video) - From Google Reader Help Channel.
  6. View Reading Feeds with Google Reader (video) - From Google Reader Help Channel.
  7. OPTIONAL: View Sharing Items with Google Reader (video)- From Google Reader Help Channel.
  8. OPTIONAL: Read through Bloglines Help page (website)
  9. View Examples of Library RSS Applications (video)
  10. Read To Get You Started . . . (Word Doc) - Provides links to feeds related to Library & Information Science and other topics.
  11. Read University of Illinois Library Databases with RSS Feeds (PDF) - Database platforms with RSS feed availability.

Additional Resources:

You may prefer to use a personalized portal rather than a reader. A portal allows you to customize a homepage interface with various gadgets (example: Google gadgets) and RSS feeds. Some popular portals include:
  • MyYahoo! - (Use same username and password as Yahoo! email account)
  • iGoogle- (Use same username and password for all Google applications)

University of Illinois Library Feeds:
University of Illinois Feeds:

We will have a hands-on lab session (no registration required) on Tuesday, March 17th from 11am-12noon in 314 Library. Please stop by with any questions you have!
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