Ch. 5 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

RSS

What in the world is an RSS feed? I’ve seen the acronym everywhere, but I couldn’t have told you before I read this chapter. Really Simple Syndication. The name sounds inviting, but the concept is terrifying at first. The last thing I want to do is sit down to a webpage that has collected data and content on the hour from all the websites I have subscribed to. Information overload. Forget about going to the gym or having a social life, might as well permanently plant my bum in front of the desktop.

I like that Richardson realizes the scariness of an RSS to the inexperienced. He then instructs you to take it easy at first and learn the ropes. He reassures that with some time and use it will become a very valuable tool for the teacher and the students.
What would we do without free Google services? We would have to pay for complicated programs. After easing some fears, Richardson takes you through the steps of setting up an RSS feed. He also warns you to stop subscribing at 10 feeds if you’re new to the set up so you don’t become overwhelmed by the information collection in your aggregator. But it’s really fascinating how you can just type words that you want the aggregator to collect information about. My only fear here is that some words are going to lead to some questionable content that may or may not have been intended to be collected by the student and or teacher.

At this point, I’m amazed at where the technological world has come to, but I’m a little disgusted by it. It’s become a sick addiction to be constantly connected. This book even suggests downloading Google gears so that when you won’t be able to be connected you can take your RSS fee with you. The point of getting away, say on a camping trip is to get back out in nature and rough it. Not bring your RSS feed with you so you can sit under a tree or in your tent and kill your eyes. Although, it is handy to know that you do have that option.

So how is this handy for the classroom? That’s what I want to know. I never thought about adding students’ blogs to the feed. I wonder if that’s how Dr. Boyer manages all of our blogs. If so, I apologize right now for all my blog tardiness, and how does that work when I change the dates and times? That’s something I’ll have to play around with and see later. I wish I would have known about the powers of an RSS a long time ago. RSS makes research so much easier. Instead of having to search for your research, an RSS feed can just bring it to your front door step. He goes on to explain the various uses, I can’t believe vanity feeds. That’s just kind of creepy.

I really enjoy Richardson’s humor throughout this book. He sates on page 83, “Remember: resistance is futile”. I guess that means, I’ll go and develop my RSS on Google Reader now, so I can find ways to implement it in my class. That’s part of being a teacher, always learning more and new things, even if you’re sick of it, so your students can benefit from it.