RSS Thoughts

Here is my thoughts on RSS readers...

RSS Thoughts & Experiences
According to one website RSS stands for Rich Site Summary (www.whatisrss.com). However, according another website RSS means Really Simple Syndication (www.rss.softwaregarden.com/aboutrss.html). Both sites however, did agree what RSS did. RSS allows web users to stay current with what’s going on with their favorite websites by viewing just one page instead of hitting each individual page. The convenience of this is you don’t have to waste time searching each site for updates. When you log onto your RSS site you can quickly see what has been updated and what hasn’t. You can even read the updated articles right there instead of having to go to the website.

There are two types of RSS readers; web-based readers and those you download. The web-based reader, I feel, stays more current because it will update even when you are not on the web. The readers you download are nice because they can be used even if you do not have a web connection. However, it won’t update if there is not an internet connection so whatever you had the last time you logged on is what you will still have now.

During the setup I really didn’t have any problems. I installed BlogBridge and Google reader. The BlogBridge set up went smoothly; however, once I get it installed I felt a little lost about what to do then. I got my websites in fairly easily but I didn’t do much beyond that. I know you can group your sites, put in clip art for your sites and set up the reader so it will find sites based on your interests but I didn’t do all that because I just didn’t like the overall feel of the BlogBridge reader. The Google reader I felt was a breeze getting set up and going. When I log into the different readers, I like the Google one much better. The Google reader, I feel, is much more user friendly. One example of this would be that it took me almost two weeks to figure out how on the BlogBridge reader to make the articles go away after I read them. It really annoyed me when I would log in it would tell me I had like 90+ articles to read. Really I didn’t but I didn’t know how to mark them as read. With the Google reader that wasn’t an issue. It’s a minor detail, I know, but it really annoyed me.

When it comes to using RSS readers in classrooms I can see the potential. I could put a RSS link on my classroom webpage which would help parents stay informed each time I update the page. That would be very helpful for parents to stay informed about homework. But I would have to assume parents have RSS readers. That is about as far as it would go for my classrooms. I found some good educational sites but not anything that would be good for the subject I teach. I teach an elective so it’s often hard to find good quality sites with information relative to what I teach. So this is not something I really see myself using in my classroom. However, if I did decide to use this I don’t think it would be hard for students to set up their own accounts. I did it in no time and most students seem more tech savvy than me so I don’t think they would have a problem doing this. They would probably enjoy it more than me.

I can see the benefit of the RSS readers but for me it doesn’t tickle my fancy. I’m just not an internet bug. I have my few favorite sites but I enjoy actually going to these sites. One thing I noticed on the readers when it comes to the blogs is it only shows the author’s entries. If someone comments on the author’s blog it doesn’t show that. So for me I would prefer to go to the actual blog site so I can see comments that have been made. For me I don’t think I will continue to use the readers. I still prefer to get my news from my couch with a cup of coffee watching the TV. I don’t like to use the internet to get the news. Part of my problem is I spend so much time reading for school and work that I just don’t have time, or energy, to spend another hour or two reading all the feeds that come in.

Unknown author. What is RSS? RSS Explained. Retrieved January 31, 2009, from http://www.whatisrss.com/

Unknown author (July 6, 2004). What is RSS. Retrieved January 31, 2009, from http://www.rss.softwaregarderncom/aboutrss.html