Week 7 - Post 2 - Using RSS Feeds

Check out the USA Today general article below on how students are using RSS feeds to save time in completing their research.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-08-01-rss-research_x.htm

If you want to know more specifically how to utilize RSS feeds in research, here is a website at Texas State University - San Marcos library.

http://www.library.txstate.edu/research/RSS-feeds.html

This made me think that our own Bird Library must have a resource for us to set up RSS feeds, and guess what...it does. Apparently each student has an account in MYbrary where you can set up research feeds from your favorite journals. If you've noticed, when you go directly to a journal site, many time you have to be a subscriber to obtain articles. If you utilize MYbrary, you can access your favorites for free.

https://library.syr.edu/mybrary/

I also ran across another website chock full of RSS information. It's called RSS Specifications. I've provided the link to the RSS article page within the website. You'll note the number of ways feeds are being used. From Realtors to marketers, RSS is becoming a key tool in many occupations today.

http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-articles.htm

And, I also ran across another look at how feeds are set up at the New York Federal Reserve. Take a look at how RSS feeds are listed by topic. This is just another example of how the feeds are developing a life of their own in the world of information access.

http://www.newyorkfed.org/rss/

Hope this gives you a good overview of how RSS looks in the outside world.

Week 7 - Add a Feed to Your Blog

The only way to really appreciate RSS feeds is to use them. So, I will explain here how to add one to your blog. Since we all have to visit our blogs each week, it will be one-stop-shopping for you to experience how an RSS feed works.

1. Find a website with an RSS feed (look for the feed logo located at the top center of this post) to "pull" a feed from. Choose a site that has information that interests you. "Copy" the URL of the RSS feed page.
2. Sign into your blog and click into "Design" mode.
3. Click on any "Gadget" area you see. You will get a list of options of gadgets you can add to customize your blog.
4. Scroll down the list of gadgets to find "FEED." Click on it.
5. Paste the URL of the website of your chosen feed.

Voila! You should be in business with your new RSS feed.

PS -I have experienced some errors pasting some RSS URLs into the URL. I have no fix but to find another URL of another website that works. Sorry...I'm still not a guru in Blogger.

Now...go get a feed! (And...let me know how it works.)