billso.com

I’ve set up dedicated RSS feeds for my IS 6100 and IS 7010 courses.

Students in these courses may use the appropriate RSS link when subscribing. You’ll see choices for a variety of web-based readers, web browsers, and email. Some mobile phones can display RSS feeds, too. Just try getting this kind of information from a WebCT course…

If you’re wondering what RSS is and how it can make your life easier, go read my post from January 23.

This is an updated version of an announcement I posted in my old blog on January 12.

I’m using WordPress, Bloglines and RSS to distribute course announcements and readings this term. Since I’m teaching courses on information systems, it makes sense to use several modern systems to manage the courses.

This link is a good discussion of what a blog really is.

http://www.technorati.com/help/blogging101.html

This term, I’m going to be posting more links to previous articles that I’ve written. You’re welcome to search through my old Bloglines blog and read previous articles. Keep in mind that I change the assignments each term, and there will be some changes for Spring 2007.

We’ll discuss RSS later in the course. RSS helps me distribute course announcements without using e-mail or WebCT.

The next link retrieves a blog post I made in September 2006 that explains what RSS is.

http://billso.com/2006/09/23/what-is-rss-2/

You can also find my blog posts in my Facebook notes. If you use Facebook, click the Facebook badge on this page to add my account to your friends list.

URL: RSS for Dummies

I’ve received several questions from students who ask what RSS is, and what is has to do with blogs. Mark Evans had a nice post yesterday that pointed to:

http://cravingideas.blogs.com/backinskinnyjeans/2006/09/how_to_explain_.html

This site has a good explanation of RSS, and includes the graphic below, which  was orginally posted at http://cravingideas.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/rssforoprah_1.gif

Another explanation is available at http://dir.blogflux.com/rss.php

If you look at the HTML version of this blog at http://hpu.sodeman.com/blog, you will see a subscription link. That page displays a number of web-based RSS readers, including Bloglines.com, the Web site that I’m using to post my blog and organize my favorite RSS feeds.

I set up an HTML version of the page on September 12 so that readers who are unfamiliar with RSS or Bloglines.com could check my content quickly. That page doesn’t list all of my blog posts - only the most recent articles. You can find all of my posts at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman

I like RSS readers and recommend them to anyone who does a lot of reading on the Web. RSS allows you to set up one single place that lists or aggregates content that you want to read on a regular basis.

For students, professionals, and readers, RSS helps overcome one of the Web’s fundamental strengths - its distributed structure. Yes, I said “overcome”. We’ll discuss the client-server model in a few weeks, and don’t get me wrong - distributed computing can be a good thing.

Without RSS, you’ll spend a lot of time moving from Web site to Web site, reading your favorite columnists, newspapers and other content.

With a Web-based RSS reader, it’s very easy to read news, find new employment opportunities, track your packages, check the weather forecast, and more.

You might even be able to read your favorite RSS content on your telephone or PDA, depending upon its capabilities. Try pointing your mobile device’s Web browser to http://m.bloglines.com - but always emember that you’re responsible for any additional charges from your telecommuncations provider.

• Source Blog

I really enjoyed class this weekend with the MBAs! I did get a few questions about why we’re using Bloglines, and what’s it all about, anyway?

As I mentioned in class, I’d like you to try some push technologies during our course, as a means of creating your own form of personal competitive advantage in your careers and business ventures.

You’ll have a chance to evaluate these services at the end of our course, and some of you might continue using push services if they work well for you.

This article at ubergizmo.com is a nice, quick explanation of RSS or Really Simple Syndication. RSS uses the XML data standard to push information about blogs and web content to you.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/rss.php

We’re using RSS to support our business intelligence and research projects. Bloglines combines a fine RSS reader with the Ask.com search engine, so it’s almost like one-stop shopping for your research needs.

Next week, I’ll discuss how to use EBSCO along with Bloglines.

There are many, many RSS readers that you can install on your computer. An RSS reader lets you subscribe to multiple RSS feeds from different web sites, and will pull new content into your reader whenever you run the reader program.

Some people prefer that approach, in which the RSS subscription software is installed on your own computer, or what IT professionals call the client. If you’re concerned that someone might hack into a web-based RSS reader account and read your subscriptions, and you only use one computer on a regular basis, then client-side software is a good choice.

I find this client-side approach difficult to use, as I use several different computers in different locations. So I’ve chosen Bloglines as my web-based RSS reader. Bloglines uses a server-based approach, and it is always updating my account with your blog entries and other items on my blogroll, or list of RSS subscriptions.

I’m requiring your groups to use Bloglines because it works pretty well as a groupware tool, and I can focus on your assignments instead of supporting multiple kinds of RSS readers. I’ll admit that Bloglines isn’t perfect. I find the edit window is quirky, and there’s no spell checker. You might consider editing your posts in Word before you copy-n-paste an article into the edit window.

Bloglines is not the only web-based RSS reader. There’s another one that I’ve seen but haven’t tried called Rojo.com. It uses tagging, a technique that we’ll examine with another service called social bookmarking.

If you want to set up your own server-based RSS reader, but you don’t like Bloglines, I’d suggest My Yahoo if you already use that service or Yahoo Mail, and you could try Google Reader if you are a Gmail or Google News user. There are other alternatives available, so use your favorite search engine to find them.

USA: Charles Cooper of News.com says bloggers missed their chance in Boston, and called the bloggers coverage “vapid” and “wanting”. Yes, a blog is a nice, easy way to take some quick shots at the day’s events. My blog is a vent.