RSS (most commonly translated as "Really Simple Syndication" but sometimes "Rich Site Summary") is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed", or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed's URI or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.
Cited from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS, by Brian H. on 10/03/09
RSS feeds are considered part of Web 2.0 because it utilizes user centered design and information sharing. The primary purpose of RSS feeds is to use one sites date in another site, application, or browser plugin. Students from third grade/ages 7 and above should be able to utilize RSS feeds. A professional development activity/ sample lesson that could be used with an RSS feed is to have teachers start a google account and receive RSS feeds from several news networks through google reader. They could then pick 2 interesting articles and summarize them with group members and embed a video of the story on their blog. resource.
RSS image uploaded from: http://www.zisshop.nl/Zis/web/%5Cpic%5Crss.gif
If you set up a class RSS account, you can subscribe to news websites. When discussing current events, students can pull up the reader and see the different views websites take on the same event. Also then students can watch live video and read related stories.
ReplyDeleteIt also makes the students think about the reliability and creditability of the source.