Blog 11: Too Much To Handle—Information Overload Syndrome--RSS and PD

In the computer world, users have expressed how difficult it is to organize and read all the information to which they are subscribed. "Little Billy" is just one example of Information Overload Syndrome, a pandemic striking millions of internet users. Please take the time to view this movie and alert yourself to the signs and symptoms of the accursed IOS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXFEBbPIEOI
To embed video
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Well, thankfully for "Little Billy" and his workmates, we can alleviate some of the problems of IOS with the use of an aggregator and an RSS feed. An aggregator, also known as a feed reader, news reader or simply aggregator, is software or a web application which collects, organizes, controls, and routinely monitors news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easier reading, listening and viewing. Upon subscribing to a feed by entering the URL to the RSS feed, users are ready to begin keeping track of their favourite topics and information. RSS makes reading Web logs easy because only new information is added to the list of user readings.
RSS is an acronym for Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. RSS and Atom are the structures that organize content which is updated on a regular basis for others to retrieve. Feeds are referred to as pulling of information from multiple sources. Since users subscribe to your website or blog, the user is able to “pull” information from it and retrieve it at any time. “Pushing” applies once a user has created a message and then hopes that someone will locate the information from their website. An aggregator is the software used by the RSS feed to access websites and blogs that offer RSS feeds. “Weblogs generate a behind-the-scenes code in a language similar to HTML called XML. This code, usually referred to as a "feed" (as in "news feed"), makes it possible for readers to "subscribe" to the content that is created on a particular Weblog so they no longer have to visit the blog itself to get it. As is true with traditional syndication, the content comes to you instead of you going to it.” (Richardson, 2009) Aggregators come in the form of desktop applications, browsers, mail applications or web-based products, some of which are available free online, and others which require purchasing. A comprehensive list of aggregators and RSS feed readers is available at http://hebig.org/blog/002955.php . Most users who read numerous blogs use an aggregator of some sort to help them sift through their subscriptions efficiently. Many aggregators notify the user of hourly updates by providing a title, an excerpt or the full text when something new is added on a topic. People use RSS feeds to keep current on a topic of interest. Rather than checking numerous websites each day to see if anything new has been added to the discussion or information, an RSS feed gathers new information, and records the information so that users will only need to read the new or additional bits of information rather than several whole articles and discussions thus saving much time. Online web applications are available to make it easy to use RSS on any device that hosts access to the internet.

RSS allows bloggers the leisure of choosing which feeds to read and when. An added bonus for using RSS is that it is virus free, with no ads, or spam. You can read the entire post, scan headlines until you reach something interesting, or click through the entire list without opening any of the documents if there’s nothing that meets your fancy. (Richardson, 2009) Although having someone install software, configure it and embed the code in the school HTML pages is safer, it requires the services and time of the school technician, a very tight commodity in most schools. If you want the easy, inexpensive route to knowing when anything related to a particular book or topic is posted, perform a keyword search, grab the URL of the RSS feed, and add it to your aggregator. When a new record with that phrase or title is entered, you’ll be notified. In this manner, schools and libraries don’t need their technician to install and configure the software.

I have been using some features of Google Reader throughout this course but still haven’t really optimized what is available. Although I have found it interesting to read the results of various searches, there are still copious amounts of information that I have not had time to read and others that appear unrelated. I am also not impressed by the Google selections of bundles that can be downloaded. I tried out the news bundle but only found a limited few to be pertinent to Canadian interests. As a result, I spent quite a bit of time unsubscribing from the majority of the sites and I have been reticent to add further Google bundles since. GigAlert is Google’s means of allowing monitoring of professional interests online. By obtaining a membership, you are able to track the whole web for topics and receive new results daily by email. This service appears somewhat more valuable to a marketer and I just didn’t feel that I required further Information Overload Syndrome.

One of the features I have not used until the past few weeks is the “star” feature. This feature allowed me to unsubscribe from those articles and sites that I didn’t find particularly find useful but kept the remainder in a star file for later perusal. I also created and added a small bundle to my blog as I experimented further. This was particularly easy and is something that would be very useful for a class interested in a particular topic. If a class was researching a social studies topic such as Canadian Aboriginal rights, the teacher or teacher-librarian could search for related information, click on the Create a Bundle button in the “Browse for stuff” and then drag and drop the feeds into the area open for bundle collection. After naming the bundle and providing a description, it could be shared on a school web site or blog for students to add to or view as long as students held a Google Reader account. Because it is so easy to subscribe to practically every online information source available, we can still become overloaded with too much information unless we spend some time clearing out the websites and information we are not using.
Another handy feature of Google Reader is the “Manage Subscription” found in blue at the bottom of the left column. When this button is clicked, it allows me to create folders, name them and then save the various starred articles, and blogs to folders making the information more readily available as a result. From this same page, I can also add Google Reader to my iGoogle account, put Reader into a bookmark, and subscribe as I surf. Should I switch between feed readers, I can export my Google Reader information to the new reader or import information from any other reader to Google Reader. Had I not already signed up to Google Reader, which is very easy to use and subscribe from, I likely would have attempted using the Bloglines aggregator as recommended by Richardson as being a beginners’ level site. It appears to have many of the same features as Google Reader and seems equally as easy to use minus a few of the features such as starred entries and folders.

There are a multitude of uses for RSS and aggregators in schools some of which include:

· http://www.citiulike.org/ a good tool for writing and research so you can share your library with others and find out what others are reading of this nature.
· Students use blogs to create a response to an assignment; Students syndicate, teachers subscribes and may now read student created assignments.
· Students may comment on each other’s blogs, the teacher can use the RSS syndication feature to monitor the comments that have been made.
· An author in residence program could be set up using an RSS feed with a class blog for students to communicate with the author of a novel, or play.
· Have students collect research information using Delicious, locate the RSS feed at the bottom of the delicious page to share their research finding with everyone in class.
· Have RSS feed available on the school library page and the school web site so that students, parents, and teachers can locate updates on school information, library resources, and newly catalogued items, book lists, book reviews and recommendations
· RSS feeds of current headlines from news agencies to aid with current events articles
· Update class research projects using RSS feeds
· Add the Public Library’s RSS to the school library site

Blogging for professional development is also an important use of both blogs and RSS feeds and something that most teachers would likely embrace. If a number of teachers, interested in developing both in technological skills and teaching pedagogy, could be accessed, a blog might be the answer to hosting sentient ideas that serve as breakthrough concepts for teachers. By using an RSS feed, staff members could respond to one another while also conducting online research during their teaching time. When teachers have a spare, they are could check their feed, read some of the information from those sites and respond to another teacher’s ideas or post new information. This community of learners could be developed by the teacher-librarian who acts as a moderator and motivator by first inviting the teachers of a particular school to join, demonstrating some of the basics about the technology and then posing a question around some aspect of teaching using Web 2.0 technology. The idea is that this question would engender authentic professional conversation supported by referenced information, not just opinion. As teachers become further involved, and use technologies with their classes, word will spread and further conversation will be hosted regarding these successes and potentially, suggestions made as to how the projects can be changed to better utilize a particular technology within a specific curriculum area. From this concept, a resource repository could be built for teachers to share knowledge and “how-to’s” for others on staff developed, thus informing practice. This methodology of building a community of learners would lead to deeper thinking regarding practice and builds a community of learners unafraid to share ideas that have worked for them. The validation that teachers achieve from the use of a blog, will spur them and colleagues to even greater achievements.

When our school principal developed a shell similar to the Blackboard, unfortunately, he did not get the anticipatory positive reception for which he had hoped. In hindsight, I feel that part of the problem was in using the shell environment mandated by our district. It doesn’t promote spontaneous connections and sharing but has more of a “top down” feel. In other words, it felt like he was the teacher and his staff, learners registered in a course. Although his efforts were remarkable, staff perceived this shell as simply something more they had to do in an already full day. I think had our district not mandated the use of the shell, and a blog been set up, the idea of staff sharing and learning may have taken off. There seems to be an informal feeling to a blog that people buy into more readily, even if it is an edublog. Users feel that they have opinions and ideas that can be shared with authority and as a result, are more readily interested in entered a conversation or a post. Professional development is important to teachers but the medium used must be one that is comfortable for them to use.

Librarians are deciding to create library feeds, which may provide a precursor for staff to see how this technology can be used. It is important to consider the type of feed to use. The only syndicated feeds that offer to disseminate multi-media files via subscription are RSS and Atom. It is also important to give consideration to what content is suitable for syndication? Anything pertaining to private student information is not suitable content. Should the feed be updated nightly when there is least traffic, hourly or as content is generated which could mean any time of the day, even during high usage times? When marketing the library, building a total online presence accessible from one location makes sense so it becomes important to add the library Flickr feed to the web page, and an email address. Other considerations might include what RSS feeds will we subscribe to for students, staff and parents. It is always good practice to offer some version of “how-to” information for all users to access.

“RSS is a powerful, flexible tool that …will be changing our information gathering habits for years to come.” (Richardson, 2009) Covering personal interests to inquiry project research, RSS saves time and keeps individuals informed and relaxed—well reasonably so. Should you have a “Little Billy” in your class, save him from IOS by introducing him to an RSS feed and watch him relax.

References:


Hall, L (09 30, 2006) "Professional Development...with Fries", from K12 Online Conference 2009 retrieved 08, 10, 2009 at http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=58

PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT KEYNOTE“Professional Development … with Fries”
By Lani Ritter Hall ⋅ October 30, 2006 ⋅
Richardson, W. (2009) Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Thousand Oaks, California, C orwin Press.

Richardson, W. (08, 2009) It’s Just Social from Weblogg-ed learning with the Read/Write Web, retrieved on August 5, 2009 at http://weblogg-ed.com/

Richardson, W. (01, 2004) Blogging and RSS — The "What's It?" and "How To" of Powerful New Web Tools for Educators, Multi-media and Internet School, http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdlink?index=6&did=538066381&SrchMode=3&sid=2&Fmt=4&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1249858541&clientId=12301&aid=1s
Siegler, MG (04, 2009) Easily Create Your Own Feed Bundles Of Joy With Google Reader, at TechCrunch, retrieved on August 9, 2009 at http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/21/easily-create-your-own-feed-bundles-of-joy-with-google-reader/

Stephens, M. (09 2007) Tools from “Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software” Revisited, from Library Technology Reports, retrieved August 8, 2008 at http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdlink?index=13&did=1341876301&SrchMode=3&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1249885056&clientId=12301