Defining Blogs & RSS FeedsDefining Blogs & RSS Feeds

What is a blog?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 Why would you create a blog?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 Why would you create a blog for your library?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 Why would you create a blog for your library? 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?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?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?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?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 aggregatorsRSS aggregators

List of RSS feeds that you subscribe to

Content of selected feed

Bloglines notifier

RSS aggregatorsRSS aggregators

MyFeedster, DailyRotation, Newsgator, Newscrawler and MyYahoo! are other popular services

You need an email address to register and login

Adding RSS feedsAdding RSS feeds

Add subscriptions by adding URLs

Click on the orange box and copy URL from top of XML file

What is the difference What is the difference between blogs and RSS?between blogs and RSS?

Delivery difference Content difference Reader-tool difference

Blogs offer RSS feeds

RSS and email are content delivery channels.

Blogs are an internet media content format

Bloglines for email discussion Bloglines for email discussion listslists

Bloglines email subscriptions You can create an unlimited number

of special Bloglines email addresses that are tied to your Bloglines account. The email addresses show up as subscriptions in your My Blogs page, and email sent to those email addresses appears as new items.

Using RSS feeds and Bloglines Using RSS feeds and Bloglines email subscriptions instead of email subscriptions instead of

email alertsemail alerts

Reduction of spam Easy viewing No need for Out of Office Reduce Inbox clutter No rejection by servers

Getting started with RSS & Getting started with RSS & blogsblogs

Cindy Chick’s RSS Tutorial

Some blogs that I subscribe to Some blogs that I subscribe to the RSS feeds forthe 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 RSS feeds that I subscribe to that aren’t blogsthat 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 & Getting started with blogs & RSSRSS

Cindy Chick’s RSS Tutorial available at her blog at http://www.lawlibtech.com/ Part One: What is RSS? http://lawlibtech.com/archives/000314.html Part Two: Getting started with RSS aggregators

http://lawlibtech.com/archives/000319.html Part Three: Using Bloglines http://lawlibtech.com/archives/000324.html Part Four: News, news and more news http://lawlibtech.com/archives/000338.html

Definition of blog from wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Some Blogs and RSS Feeds that you might like to subscribe to: beSpacific http://www.bespacific.com Connie Crosby http://conniecrosby.blogspot.com/ Law Lib Techhttp://www.lawlibtech.com/ TVC Alerthttp://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/index.html Vancouver Law Librarian Blog http://vancouverlawlib.blogspot.com/ Resource Shelf http://www.resourceshelf.com/ Canadian Privacy Law Blog http://www.privacylawyer.ca/blog/ Search Engine Watch Blog http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/ SLAW http://www.slaw.ca/ Research Buzz http://www.researchbuzz.org/ Google Weblog http://google.blogspace.com/

ArticlesArticles

Chris Sherman, “What is RSS and Why Should You Care” http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3530926

Chris Sherman, “Choosing a RSS Reader” http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3531486

Darlene Fichter, Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library's Services http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov03/fichter.shtml

Darlene Fichter, Blogging Explosion: Libraries and Weblogs http://library.usask.ca/~fichter/talks03/il/2003.10.28.blogging.pps)