RSS r Eurs

a p re s e ntat i o n by Jo hn He n dro n

Version 1., January, 

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www.johnhendron.net

REally SimplE Syndication

R.S.S. stands or something “Really Simple,” and that ought to pique our interest as educators. Any tool that’s easy to use is one we might well worth bother learning more about. We can talk about thetechnical aspects o R.S.S., and I will briey. But the majority o this document will discuss how R.S.S.aects the end-user, whether that be a classroom teacher or a student.For a more in-depth view o R.S.S. and its impact or your school, consider reerencing my book,

RSS for Educators: Blogs, Podcasts, Newsfeeds, and Wikis in the Classroom

published by ISE. It can bepurchased through the online ISE bookstore or through

Amazon.com

REad/WRitE/REmiX WEB

Beore we explore what R.S.S. is or does, we have to rst enter the world o the blossoming Web. o-day there are so many interactive, participatory types o websites, that they’ve invented a new termyou’ve likely heard to describe it: Web 2.0. Te thing is, just about anyone can set up a new blog, starta new wiki, or publish a podcast in mere minutes. With all o this new content, things get messy. Howdo you keep track o it all? How to you publish it all so easily, without having to know H..M.L. anda new martial art?Blogs, podcasts, and wikis are all examples o media in the new Web: it’s content that anyone cancreate, publish, and re-mix. Soware powered by databases helps content creators manage all o their

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RSS for Educators

creative energy and the products through something called a

content management system

. Tis issoware that runs on a web server that takes new content, applies ormatting, creates new contentbased on your content, and basically “publishes” what you write, sing, videotape, or record. Whileearlier on you might have used a tool like Front Page or Dreamweaver to create content or the Web,in the Web 2.0 world, you create the content

on the Web

using some sort o content system.Content management systems or blogs include names like Blogger, WordPress, or ypepad. Contentmanagement systems or wikis include names like Wikispaces, Wetpaint, or PBWiki. While podcastsare still generally produced ofine using audio and video editing soware, a new class o Web-basedapplications is emerging to put audio and video online using your webcam, microphone, and a webbrowser.

So where does R.S.S. t in?

So many o these content systems today generate something called anewseed le when you publish content. I you publish a new blog entry, behind the scenes, the con-tent management system (C.M.S.) is also updating a newseed le. We sometimes call this your “R.S.S.eed.” It’s nothing more than a list, ormatted in a syntax known as X.M.L., that contains your newestcontent. Te C.M.S. puts your content on the blog, where it looks pretty, and it also publishes it to atext le, ormatted or other machines to read.It’s what you do with this le that makes it useul. For now, just know that i you’re using some type o C.M.S. to manage and publish content you put online, this same system is likely also creating news-eed les or has the capability o doing so.