Monday, October 06, 2008

RSS feeds for ELT

Bloglines: promises, and delivers!

Real Simple Syndication [definition; Wikipedia entry], or RSS as it is better known, might at first sight sound like another bit of geeky technology that you can live very happily without, thank you.

Basically, it will involve you setting up an account (eg at Bloglines) and specifying which website(-s) and/or blog(-s) you want to track for new content. The next day (say), you will have to log back on to your new account to read any new content that has been found and brought to you at your account [+ info].

Which websites and blogs publish an RSS feed?


Not all websites publish what is called a "feed", which is what Bloglines et al use to gather the content for you.

If, as in the image above, in the address bar you can see an orange icon that looks like it is transmitting radio waves (red arrow), then the site has an RSS feed which you can very simply add to your Bloglines account, and start receiving content from that site too.

Is it worth it...?
A very long time ago, when even email was in its infancy, I came to a seminar at my present employers, at which someone explained that the teachers (now my colleagues) had not wanted to use email until they discovered how useful it could be to them personally -- for things other than teaching.

I'd suggest that RSS is like that: discover that it's useful to you personally, to bring you things on your hobbies and interests, and you'll quickly be convinced...

5 RSS feeds of general interest
Below, five sites on topics that interest me: try them, or look out for others that will interest you...
5 RSS feeds of interest to English teachers
Try RSS. You'll wonder how you ever lived without it...

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posted by Tom at 1:21 PM