Week 3, Things 4 & 5 - RSS Feeds & Google Reader

Welcome to Week 3, Things 4 & 5 – RSS Feeds and Google Reader
After completing Things 4 & 5 you will have…

Learned what RSS feeds are, created a Google Reader account, added a few feeds to your reader (including the University Library 23 things blog RSS feed), explored other RSS feeds and You will also have added the University Library 23 things blog RSS feed to your iGoogle page.

What is an RSS feed & Google Reader?

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and it allows you to view new content from websites, newsfeeds, blog entries, etc. in one place without having to visit the individual sites. When you are looking for websites, newsfeeds or blogs to subscribe to an RSS feed, you will often see an orange symbol to indicate a feed (at top of page). Once you’ve located a feed, you need to subscribe to that feed using a “reader”. The reader we will be using today is “Google Reader”. Now instead of having to go out to various websites, newsfeeds, journal providers & blogs everyday to see the new content, you just have to go to one place- Google Reader.

Watch these great videos from Commoncraft.com that explains RSS feeds and Google Reader.

(using RSS feeds)

(using Google Reader)

Now that you’ve seen how it works- let’s try setting up a Google Reader account and adding the University Library 23 things blog RSS feed.

Step-by-step instructions
NOTE: These instructions are for Internet Explorer. If you are using FireFox or Safari, there will be other options.

1. Go to Google Reader http://reader.google.com/
2. Sign into Google Reader using your Google Account (same account you created for your iGoogle account)
3. Open a new window and leave Google Reader open
4. Go to the University Library 23 things blog http://uofslibrary23things.blogspot.com/
5. Look for the orange RSS feed symbol on the right hand side of the page under “subscribe to this blog"section.
6. Click on “Posts” and from the drop down menu, select "Add to Google."
7. A new window will open and there will be two options. Select the option "Add to Google Reader" on the right hand side of the page.
8. Google Reader should automatically open up and subscribe you to this feed. The feeds you subscribe to, will appear in the menu on the bottom left hand side of the page under "Subscriptions."
9. Now that everyone is subscribed to the University Library 23 things blog RSS feed, let’s try adding one more feed. Leave your Google Reader open and go to http://www.cbc.ca/rss/
1o. Select the RSS feed you’d like to subscribe to. For example select 'Top Stories' (under the "General News" section).
11. Click on the orange RSS symbol or link for the feed you would like to subscribe to. Copy the URL from the top of your browser (http://rss.cbc.ca/lineup/topstories.xml) and go back to your Google Reader.
12. Click on the red “Subscribe” button.
13. Paste the URL into the box and select the "Add" button.
14. You are now subscribed to this feed. You will notice the feed under the "Subscriptions" section on the bottom left hand side of the page.

15. You can now sign out of Google Reader.


Now to add the University Library 23 things blog RSS feed to your iGoogle page

1. Sign into your iGoogle page
2. Open a new window and go to the University Library 23 Things blog

3. Look for the orange RSS feed symbol on the right hand side of the page under "subscribe to this blog" section.
4. Click on “Posts” and from the drop down menu, select "Add to Google."
5. A new window will open and there will be two options. Select the option "Add to Google Homepage" on the left hand side of the page.
6. Your iGoogle should open and the feed should now have been added to your page.
7. Blog about your experience using RSS feeds. Do you think this is valuable? Will you use RSS feeds? Is this useful to know working in a library?

Optional: Try this!!!

1. Instead of having to go to your favourite websites everyday, see if they have RSS feeds. If they do, add them to your Google Reader. Now you will only have to visit Google Reader instead of a lot of different websites. Think of the time you will save! If you are having trouble finding an RSS feed to add to your Google Reader, here is a link to a directory for RSS feeds. http://ca.feedzilla.com/ .

2. For those who are really keen.. try adding your own blog RSS feed to your iGoogle page. Go to your blog and sign in. Click on 'Layout' on the left sidebar. On the right hand side, click on 'Add a Gadget'. Scroll down to the gadget "Subscription Links" (you will see the RSS feed orange symbol). Click on the blue + sign and click on the orange save button. Now you will see "Subscribe to" as a gadget on your blog design layout. Click save. When you now view your blog, you will see the new gadget added on the right hand side with the RSS feed orange symbols (subscribe to/posts/comments). Now you can repeat steps 1-6 above, but use your blog instead of the University Library 23 things blog. Have fun!