RSS - helping me stay sane!

"Tools like RSS feeds are moving the information experience from “mass media” (few producers of information communicating with a large number of consumers) to “personal media” (many producers of information communicating with a more individualized group of consumers)." Doug Johnson

At the beginning of September, as suggested by Joanne, I signed up with an RSS feed; little did I know how efficient this would be because, "you can read more content from more sources in less time" (Richardson, 76, Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms). At the time, I didn't have a clue what RSS was, or how it could make my life easier, so I began my quest for "RSS knowledge" by reading Richardson's chp. "RSS:The New Killer App for Educators" and of course viewing, what has become a standby for me, Lee Lefever's RSS in Plain English video. What I learned is that instead of me going to find all of the blogs that I need/want to follow in order to see if there is a new post, RSS tells me every time there is new content on the blog. Not only does it tell me that there is something new, but I can actually read that information directly through my feed reader! Marvelous!

As mentioned in my September post, it was Richardson's "tried and true" book that helped me focus in on Bloglines, which has worked amazingly well for me! I check my Bloglines once or twice a week, and I can immediately see when someone has added a blog post, whether it be someone in EDES 501, or one of the other blogs I am trying to follow. However, as of late, I have been thinking about how I can use Bloglines to streamline my following of all of the different places I am creating on the web. I added a feed to my Classroom 2.0 Ning as well as a feed to my voicethread, but I am not sure if that will work the way I want it to. I also added Women of Web 2.0 podcasts - this way, I won't have to check my bookmarks to see if there is a new podcast which is what I have been doing up until now. I feel like my RSS feed is really helping to keep me organized in what seems, at times, to be web 2.0 overload.

I recently checked out Google reader, which is also popular with people using RSS (according to Richardson's blog, he has switched over to this reader as well). I even signed up with it, but at the moment I am comfortable using Bloglines, and to be honest I don't want to mess with something that is working well for me (Unlike Blogger which didn't save this post the first time I tried to post it this morning )-: ). Also, being a minimalist, I prefer the simple straightforward layout of Bloglines versus the busier layout of Google Reader. However, there are many people who have done comparisons of both, and some of the most recent can be found at Library Stuff, ReadWriteWeb, and Pleasure and Pain: Measuring the impact of new technology on human experience, (this blog does the most thorough analysis of both) and after having read these, there is considerable evidence that suggests that Google reader is the RSS of choice.

Why do I like Bloglines?

• I was able to set this up without too much difficulty at a time when I was quite clueless about how to set anything up on the web.
• I can have different folders in order to group the blogs that I am following.
• I was able to add a "subscribe to Bloglines" button to my favorites. This way all I have to do is click on this when I find a blog or site that I would like to add.
• I am able to show my Bloglines feeds on my blog, and, once again, I was able to accomplish this without too much difficulty.
• I can "clip" certain parts of a blog to review later.

How can RSS be used by teachers?

• They can easily and quickly follow students' blogs, which is what I intend to do when my students set their blogs up in December.
• They can use this as a means of professional development by easily following other educator's blogs.
• They can use it to stay on top of current information about topics that are being studied in class. This can be particularly useful for science and social studies teachers.

By Students?

• They can set up a feed reader to help them stay on top of current events.
• They can collect "topic-specific research that . . . [could] assist[] them with research or further study" (Richardson, 81).

I think the key to making RSS work for me is to ensure that I am following a manageable number of feeds, and for the moment, all of these are tied to education; however, several out-of-the-classroom uses can be found at 34 Ways to Use RSS, and 14 "OTHER" Ways to Use RSS.