Post on 08-Jan-2016
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“Fast, Cheap, and In Control”: RSS and Blogs
Edward Eckel
Engineering and Applied Sciences LibrarianWestern Michigan University
March 9, 2007
What I’ll be covering today…
RSS Feeds
Blogs
What is RSS?
“Rich Site Summary”, “Really Simple Syndication”, or RDF Site Summary.”
Snippet of XML code that describes new content on a site.
You can keep up with web updates by just subscribing to the XML snippet
a.k.a. THE FEED
Feed Reader
Automatically tracks updates to RSS feeds– Bloglines.com– Firefox
Newsfox Feed Reader WIZZ RSS Reader
– Google Homepage– Numerous others…
Let's Subscribe!
Feed Icons
Blogs, blogs, and more blogs
Blogs, blogs and more blogs...
Technorati currently tracks some 70 million blogs
Over 175,000 new ones every day Range from the highest quality to the lowest Serve as postmodern personal journals, way to
communicate with friends, promote self or organization
Terms to be aware of...
Post Tags Comments Blogroll
Post
One dated entry – like a diary or journal Can do as many per day as you like Usually short, succinct – although there are
exceptions
Tags
Labels that describe the content of a post Informal descriptors – "folksonomy" Frequently, these can be shared among
many blogs – may help people find your blog
Comments
People can add comments, feedback on postings
Becomes a means of communicating about hot topics
Promotes discussion Attracts spam
Blogroll
You can frequently post a list of your own favorite blogs on your blog
Example on my site
Setting Up a Blog
Blogger.com LiveJournal.com Moveable Type Wordpress.com
Writing Posts
Write about something you find interesting Choose topics that others will find interesting
or relevant Examples: tips for teaching; finding certain
types of information; highlight great resources
General Suggestions
Choose a catchy name, if you can... Identify who your readers will be Post as frequently as you can – at least once
a week Include link to blog in your email signature Make an entry (claim) for your blog in
Technorati
Post to a Blog