Defining Blogs & RSS Feeds

What is a blog?  A web log  Definition by Darlene Fichter….a blog is a “web page containing brief entries arranged chronologically.”  Frequency, brevity, personality

Why would you create a blog? Blogging technology is easy to use and inexpensive. It is a great way to distribute information that changes on a regular basis.

Why would you create a blog for your library? You could create a library blog to:  Share information (think new books, new electronic resources, password changes)  Recommend Internet sites  Market library services  Share tips and tricks

Why would you create a blog for your library?  Get beyond the stereotype of blogs as being personal, online journals.  Blogs reduced to their bare bones are simply web pages with short entries in reverse chronological order that can be categorized by subject.  Great way to distribute information that changes on a regular basis

What is RSS?  RSS is an XML format for syndication of current web content  Rich site summary or really simple syndication. Really simple syndication is probably the most agreed upon choice for this acronym.  Think of it as a distributable “What’s New” for a website, think headlines, updates, new postings

What is RSS?  RSS allows users to receive notification of current content without having to visit the web sites of interest to determine if they have been updated  Allows you to keep track of a large number of websites in a short period of time

What is RSS?  RSS originally became popular with the increased use of blogs  Blogs generate RSS feeds. Automatic feed creation is a feature of most blogging software

How do I read RSS feeds?  Two primary categories of feed reading applications: installable desktop programs and online services  These services are called aggregators  Popular desktop programs are FeedDemon and NetNewswire  The most popular online service is Bloglines

RSS aggregators List of RSS feeds that you subscribe to Content of selected feed Bloglines notifier

RSS aggregators  MyFeedster, DailyRotation, Newsgator, Newscrawler and MyYahoo! are other popular services  You need an address to register and login

Adding RSS feeds  Add subscriptions by adding URLs  Click on the orange box and copy URL from top of XML file

What is the difference between blogs and RSS?  Delivery difference  Content difference  Reader-tool difference Blogs offer RSS feeds RSS and are content delivery channels. Blogs are an internet media content format

Bloglines for discussion lists  Bloglines subscriptions  You can create an unlimited number of special Bloglines addresses that are tied to your Bloglines account. The addresses show up as subscriptions in your My Blogs page, and sent to those addresses appears as new items.My Blogs

Using RSS feeds and Bloglines subscriptions instead of alerts  Reduction of spam  Easy viewing  No need for Out of Office  Reduce Inbox clutter  No rejection by servers

Getting started with RSS & blogs  Cindy Chick’s RSS Tutorial

Some blogs that I subscribe to the RSS feeds for  Canadian Privacy Law Blog  Michael Geist’s Privacy Law  Tara Calishain’s Research Buzz  Cindy Chick’s LawLib Tech Blog  Steve Matthews’ Vancouver Law Librarian Blog  Connie Crosby’s Law Library Blog  SLAW  Google Weblog  Gary Price’s Resource Shelf  Search Engine Watch Blog

RSS feeds that I subscribe to that aren’t blogs  Genie Tyburski’s The Virtual Chase  Sabrina Pacifici’s beSpacific  CBC News  Law.com newswire  Globe & Mail business headlines

Getting started with blogs & RSS Cindy Chick’s RSS Tutorial available at her blog at  Part One: What is RSS?  Part Two: Getting started with RSS aggregators  Part Three: Using Bloglines  Part Four: News, news and more news Definition of blog from wikipedia - Some Blogs and RSS Feeds that you might like to subscribe to:  beSpacific  Connie Crosby  Law Lib Techhttp://  TVC Alerthttp://  Vancouver Law Librarian Blog  Resource Shelfhttp://  Canadian Privacy Law Bloghttp://  Search Engine Watch Bloghttp://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/  SLAWhttp://  Research Buzzhttp://  Google Webloghttp://google.blogspace.com/

Articles  Chris Sherman, “What is RSS and Why Should You Care”  Chris Sherman, “Choosing a RSS Reader”  Darlene Fichter, Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library's Services  Darlene Fichter, Blogging Explosion: Libraries and Weblogs ogging.pps) ogging.pps