Thing # 12: Subscribe to a Podcast

Description:

A podcast is just an RSS feed with digital sound for content instead of text. The procedure for subscribing to a podcast is the same as for subscribing to any RSS feed.

Hints:

• Try thing #9 first (subscribe to the hpllearning blog's feed), then duplicate the procedure for the podcast.
• Here are some that I like:
  
• Any of the cbc podcasts, particularly The Best of Ideas.
• Uncontrolled Vocabulary, which is a library discussion call-in show. They also have a blog.
• LibVibe is another podcast related to libraries (and it uses blogger to do it).
• Since knitting seems to be my theme today, here's a knitting podcast.
  
• You may have trouble listening to the podcast, depending on what computer you use and whether you have speakers. That's why listening to the podcast is not required for this "thing" (although it would be a shame if you didn't at least try to listen).

Resources:

• Lansing Public Library podcast FAQ.
  

Why I Think RSS is the Most Important "Thing"

So I keep saying that RSS is the most important "thing". Of course, that's just an opinion -- but at least I'd like to justify it. Here are the reasons I think RSS is the most important "thing" to learn:

• RSS gives you up-to-the minute content. When I first discovered RSS, it was like my learning curve went into warp speed. I learned a lot of stuff very quickly, because I was getting content very quickly.
• RSS is like having your very own customized daily newspaper. You get to choose what goes in and what does not.
• RSS connects well with blogs. That means I can get up-to-date news from family members alongside my news about the war in Afghanistan.
• RSS works well with wikis. You could have used RSS to check to the history page of the top ten books wiki and be updated as it got editing (oh yeah, NOW I tell you! :) )
  
• RSS is what makes other social sites like del.icio.us, facebook, myspace, etc. work. You were probably using RSS without ever knowing what it meant.
  
• RSS means, potentially, that people have to "visit" websites less. If customers can get your news where they want it, why would they bother going to your website?
  
• Our new website will be using RSS.
• RSS is used in widgets to enhance the content of websites. If you had a blog about cats, why wouldn't you want to put an RSS feed from something else fun, like LOLCats (mature content warning, but probably safe for work).
• For the cataloguers out there, RSS uses a way of organizing information called XML, some have suggested that XML will/may/ought to replace MARC as a standard for organizing content.
• RSS also works for soundfiles and videos, as we will see when things 11, 12 & 13 come out.
• RSS can work on a web service, like Google Reader, or directly in your favorite browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer as a "live bookmark."
• Yahoo widgets lets you grab RSS feeds directly to your desktop, without ever using a browser!
  
• The more I talk about RSS, the more uses I find for it, so I'll stop now.

In short, RSS pretty much drives most of Web 2.0. When a new Web 2.0 tool comes out, it probably utilizes RSS in some way or another.

Thing #9: Capture the Learning 2.0's RSS feed for easy reading

Description:

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." Like Global News Syndication is a system for sending the latest news stories to newspapers, RSS is a way of sending the latest news (whether it be a blog, newsline, preset search or whatnot) to you.

Your task is to use RSS so you can get the latest Learning 2.0 news right to your chosen news site. Some good examples of these include Google Reader, iGoogle, MyYahoo.com, Bloglines, NetVibes and Pageflakes.

Hints:

• UPDATE: An anonymous commenter (thank you anonymous commenter!) reminded me to tell you that you do need an account (eg. A Google or Yahoo account) with your reader in order to add the feed -- that is, if you do not already have one.
  
• I did a screencast earlier in October to demonstrate step-by-step how to add an RSS feed to Google Reader. UPDATE: Anonymous commenter also advises that the screen cast does not work for all machines. Sorry about that!
  
• Look for the icon next to the address bar (where you enter your web addresses to find Google or whatnot), or you can scroll down and find " Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) "(oops! I made your job even easier -- we'll see if you are paying attention)".
  
• Click on the icon or link and "copy" the URL (web address) of that link into your RSS Reader (Google Reader, Bloglines, or whatever). If you have an updated version of Firefox, your task may be even easier than that.
• You can also search for this blog's RSS feed from your Reader, if you want.
  

Resources:

• What is RSS?
• RSS Feeds in Libraries.
  

Promoting your blog and a preview of Thing #16

A number of you expressed interest in sharing your blog either with me, or to promote it more widely now that you have it. That's great! Here are a few notes:

• There's going to be a 10-question quiz (via surveymonkey) to help me know if you completed the 23 things -- one of the questions will be: "what is the address for your blog?"
• If you would like to have your blog linked from this blog, just let me know, either by using the feedback form or by leaving a comment on this post. If you look down (waaaay down) you'll see that Sara Gillis & David Lewis already did ask me to do this (UPDATE: Cheryl Black and "Library Doodling" are added as well). I'm going to start by adding RSS feeds and then move to links if there are too many.
• 
  

Later on, I will ask you to "tag" a website (perhaps your blog) using del.icio.us (and write a quick post about delicious on your blog). That will be "thing #16" in fact.

If you want try del.icio.us (and I would consider this "advanced" unless you consider yourself a "techie") go ahead. My only caveat is to either

• do this from home or
  
• skip "Step #2" in the registration process (just go on to step #3) if you are applying for an account from a work PC. (delicious wants you to add an extension to Firefox or Internet Explorer when you apply and I do not want the extension on staff computers -- yet.)
  

When we get there (in early January), I will offer a way to make the del.icio.us "thing" easy to do for any non-techies out there.

Serendipity

During the creation of a screencast, I found an article from Helene Blowers via my RSS feed about the latest video by Michael Wesch, who did The Machine is Us/ing Us video.

Here it is. For example, via things like RSS, information can find us -- that's what happened to me as I discovered this video right while I was demonstrating Google Reader!




People used to talk about the Internet and searching removing the "serendipity" benefits of browsing through shelves. Web 2.0 seems to be trying to put some of those things back -- but by using social networks, rather than spatial proximity. Very interesting development.

Web 2.0 Screencasting!

So I discovered a neat online tool called screencast-o-matic via Amanda Etches-Johnson who I met at a Computers In Libraries conference and again at a Canadian Libraries Association preconference last year. So, I created a small tutorial on how to install an RSS feed in Google Reader (using Firefox 2.0).

It is unedited and has maybe about 300 too many "uhs" in it, but it does go to show how easy it is to do cool things with these technologies. Oh -- and I should warn that a news article title spells out "B.S." during the tutorial. Don't view this if you do not want to see the "S" word.



And that is one of the neat things about the Web 2.0 movement. I get information from people that have information I need, neato tools to help me do my work better, and then I get to share with you!

Blogs, blogs, blogs!

So we are entering section #2 of the ever illustrious Learning 2.0 challenge! The next two weeks are going to be about blogs.

Chances are, you've already encountered blogs as you went along your daily business of finding information. This section is focussed a little bit more on how to create a blog and why they are so popular. However, there are a few more things that might be of interest to you.

Searching for a blog is a little bit more challenging than your average website. That's why there are search engines like Technorati and Google Blog search that specialize in searching for them. The main difference between a regular search and a blog search is that a regular search will tend to focus in on *particular* blog posts. Blog searches will get you the particular posts and then provide links to the entire blog, in case you want continue reading the authors thoughts about your favorite subject.

Technorati also provides authority rankings for blogs, based on the number of people who link to the blog. This is a helpful (though not perfect) way to see if a blog is worth the page it's written on.

Later on, we will be doing some "things" related to RSS. RSS is a great way to read blogs (among other things). In my view, RSS is *the* most important subject area for libraries to know right now. Itsa little bit tricky for beginners, so you'll find that I will be offering as much help as I can on the subject. Once you know how to use it though, I think you'll find that it can really help keep information overload under control.