RSS

=**"Organize Your Life With RSS"**=


 * Abstract:** "Efficiency is intelligent laziness." Why spend all your time searching the Internet for information when the info you want can automatically be sent to you? If you find a good source of information, you can use RSS to automatically notify you of any updates.

**Thought Questions**
What are some "real" things you subscribe to? Why do you subscribe to them? What happens to those "real" things after month or two?

**RSS**
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". Much of the content on the web has an RSS feed which means that the content at that site is "subscribe-able". Here's a video that explains how it works: media type="custom" key="240815" If you can't see this video [|click here] to go to the web site.

**What "online" things can you subscribe to?**

 * **Blogs** - of course!
 * **News -** [|Google News]
 * **Photos** - Got a friend with a [|Flickr] account? Subscribe to their Flickr feed and see their latest pictures.
 * **Bookmarks** - Many people who write blogs also use a "social bookmarking" site like [|del.icio.us] or [|Diigo]. If you want to see they're bookmarking, you can access their public bookmarks online. You can also subscribe to their bookmarks and see the latest sites they're bookmarking. If you follow someone's bookmarks sometimes you can figure out what their going to blog about before they even post it!
 * **Videos** - If you know someone who posts videos to [|YouTube] or [|TeacherTube] you can subscribe to their Video feed and be notified whenever they post a new video.
 * **Wikis** - You could subscribe to this wiki and receive notification whenever I change or update it.
 * **People** - With [|FriendFeed] you can pick a person and follow all their blogs, Flickr photos, Twitter posts, and videos on one page.
 * Other things you can subscribe to: [|Technorati] searches, [|Twitter]

[|How to subscribe to feeds with Internet Explorer 7] [|How to subscribe to feeds with Firefox (text version)][|Firefox RSS Video Tutorial (from YouTube)]

Diigo and del.icio.us are sites that allow you to save your bookmarks to the Internet. That way you can access them from any computer with Internet access. If you want to learn more about social bookmarking visit this blog post: [|Diigo & Del.icio.us]. This video helps explain the concept: media type="custom" key="246883" If you can't see this video [|click here] to go to the web site.

Do you know a great teacher? Does that great teacher use a tool like del.icio.us to bookmark sites? If you're looking for a good web site, why not take a look at web sites bookmarked by a fellow, well-respected, educator? Take a look at Jennifer Wagner's de.icio.us bookmarks: http://del.icio.us/jlwagner. Look through the tag list on the right side of the screen for a topic that interests you.
 * del.icio.us**

The lastest version of [|Diigo] adds more social networking features. To see some of the new Diigo features and learn how to use it, look at the [|tutorial videos].
 * New Diigo Features**
 * You can have "friends", follow your friends bookmarks, or send bookmarks to them.
 * You can create groups in which several friends collaborate by adding bookmarks to a group.
 * You can create lists of bookmarks and turn that list into a "slideshow" for presentations.

Check out Howard Martin's Blog on Diigo: http://classroomblogging.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/highlight-your-blog/

**Readers/Aggregators**
[|Google Reader] (The one I use) [|Bloglines]

**Customize Your Home Page**
Many Internet services let you organize your life by customizing your home page, but there are others out there too. [|iGoogle] [|NetVibes]

**How active are you in online communities?**
Look at the chart below and see where you fit in. Source: [|Participation Online - The Four C's]

**How do you get teachers to start blogging?**
Get them reading blogs first! (See [|Secret Society of Bloggers])

**My Feeds** - //All my stuff that you can subscribe to...//
My Blog: [|dgrice.blogspot.com] My Flickr Photos: [|www.flickr.com/photos/dgrice/] My Diigo Bookmarks: [|www.diigo.com/user/dgrice] My TeacherTube Videos: [|www.teachertube.com/uvideos.php?UID=30764]

**Common Passwords**
Too many passwords in your life? Here are a few web tools that let you use a common password. If you have a [| Yahoo! Mail] account you can use the same account to access your [| Flickr] account. If you're an [| AT&T Yahoo!] Internet customer, you automatically have a [| Flickr Pro] account. || **Google** Your Google username and password gives you access to all Google Tools including: [| Google Docs], [| iGoogle] , [| Google Reader] & [| Blogger] ||
 * **Yahoo!**