RSS feed readers – taking news from the noise
Information overload – how do you manage to separate keeping on top of the news from the noise? JISC Inform looks at how RSS readers can deliver your pre-selected news to your inbox, saving you time spent scrolling through multiple websites.
RSS feeds are not new but what is new is how they are evolving and being embraced as a collaborative tool within education and research. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and RSS feed readers or aggregators collect together all of your feeds from different websites into one place so you can scan information and updates.
Andy McGregor, a programme manager at JISC, says, 'We work with projects which are often across different geographical locations and using an aggregator which collates the team's news, project updates, images and video in one place is a way to share information; not only within the project team but also with anyone else who is interested.
'In the last couple of years we have seen a reduction in the numbers of RSS readers available. We are left with the most successful like Google Reader, and innovative new tools like Flipboard. One interesting reason for this is the rise of sites like Twitter and Facebook that allow you to get notification and recommendation of news and sites from people you choose to network with.
'But from a beginner to an advanced user RSS readers are simple to use and I find are a very effective way to create an overview of what is going on in the world.'
RSS readers to consider
Click an icon for more information...
Google reader
Pulse
XPrss for Blackberry
Flipboard (ipad only)
Netvibes
Feedlooks.com
Once you've selected which RSS feed reader to try, JISC's web2practice site suggests ten things to get you started:
Visit the websites you use regularly and identify available RSS feeds
Add a number of RSS feeds from the BBC website to Google Reader, use it for a week and review your experience
Subscribe to an RSS feed for a newspaper
Subscribe to an RSS feed for the weather where you live
Try accessing your RSS feeds from your mobile phone
Track updates to a wiki page
Subscribe to a feed for a Flickr photo gallery
If you're using a social bookmarking tool, subscribe to a feed for one of your tags
Aggregate a range of RSS feeds together in Netvibes for your research project and share them with your project team
After a month using RSS, review your feeds; browse for new ones and delete any you haven't read regularly.
Not sure if you would benefit from using an RSS reader? Watch the 2:30min animation on this page.
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More tips on how to set up and use RSS feed readers can be found on the Read Write Web website.