Tech Teacher: Cut Through the Web Noise
RSS feeds help sort out the new from the mold.

by Geoff Butterfield

edutopia.org

published 6/19/2007

One problem with the Web: It's too darn big. Who has time to keep up with its immeasureable updates? You could spend all day trolling around online, looking for the freshest headlines and content on your favorite sites. Wouldn't it be nice if there were a way of gathering all the new things on frequently updated sites (like blogs, news feeds, or podcasts) and sending them out to you?

Hang onto your cowboy hat, because that's where Real Simple Syndication (RSS) comes in. Odds are you've seen the little orange button with either the letters RSS or XML, or sometimes a little radar-looking symbol, on at least one of your favorite Web sites (like, for instance, the Edutopia.org RSS Feed). The button means that the Web site offers its content as an RSS "feed," which is simply a list of new articles, usually with just a title and a short description. The little button is a link to that feed.

Subscribe to these feeds and these sites will get in contact with you electronically when they offer new content.