WEEK FIVE - FISHFINGERS, BEANS AND MASH

Only joking - RSS, FEEDS & MASHUPS!

Just having a strange day, struggled to find a computer today in the library to log on and print off the lecture slides. In my quest to find a computer I actually counted 17 computers over level 2 and 3 which were out of order. Turned up to lecture slightly frustrated and glanced at the presentation screen and thought I had misread the title of the lecture - genuinely thought I saw shorthand for fish fingers, beans and mash!!

For a number of years I have used google as a method of searching for information on-line and haven't really given a second thought to how that information was brought to me. In more recent years and the introduction of SMART phones information has become even more accessible with the download of APPs. The lecture provided today by Alexis gave me the insight into RSS, Feeds and Mashups which I hold my hands up to, was away over my head!

Further reading allowed me to discover that RSS (Rich Site Summary) is simply a format for delivering web content which is regularly changing. For publishers of bloggs, web related sites and other on-line publishers this makes life a little easier and allows feeds of this information to be sent to whoever wants it. The number of RSS sites is growing as it is providing a solution to a problem; it is allowing the user to stay up-to-date easily by receiving feeds to the latest content of sites they are actually interested in, thus saving time as the user does not have to go onto each site individually, and maintains privacy as you are not forced to join each site and perhaps receive e-mail updates or newsletters.

A further solution is to use a programme called a reader or aggregator which continuously checks and searches all of the sites you subscribe to for new content and streams all the information feeds to one place. RSS readers are available on different platforms and include FeedReader (through windows) and NewsGator (which integrates windows with outlook). There are also a number of web based feed readers such as: MyYahoo (which I used daily without realising) and also GoogleReader (which we were to go on and use in the Lab).

In the Lab we went on to look at how to use RSS, and it turned out to be slightly frustrating for me. I couldn't log on to my google account and although I answered all the questions in a n attempt to reset my password I received a generic message stating that google would get back to me within 3-5 days. AAArrrrggghhhh!!!! Panicked slightly as I was worried about my blogg and whether I had lost my link to it. Managed to sort it out in the end but just makes me realise how much I depend on technology without really thinking about it. When eventually logged onto Google I used the web-based Google Reader to subscribe to various feeds. It was simple enough to use, you entered the keyword for your search and browsed the selection until you found something that was of interest to you and clicked to subscribe. This could then be added to the Star Items (which is a little like your favourites). As usual I looked at keywords for Virginia Beach and discovered that it was the 2nd best state to raise a family - starting to feel a little less frustrated ;0). This is an excellent tool which will come in handy when typing up my Research Proposal as it will allow me to be up-to-date with my information. I would imagine that those staying on into the fourth year will find this invaluable. We were also able to share the items we found with friends and colleagues although I think my friends are fed up with the references I keep making to my Big Move!

All in all it was a valuable lesson which I think could become quite addictive and I'm sorely tempted to subscribe to feeds just for the sake of it, so don't think it'll save me time in the long run. Now where serves fish, beans and mash? Feeling a tad hungry!