Using an RSS Feed Aggregator for Professional Development

By Anna Moses

Do you feel like you are drowning in information? In order to stay on top of the newest developments in your profession, there are 147 different Web sites, 17 newspapers, 33 journals, and 8 funding sources that you are trying to keep up with, but never seem to have the time or can't remember the URL and forget to bookmark it. Let's look at a tool that might just help with these problems.

According to various sources, RSS is an acronym for either Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication. What the letters stand for is not as important as how it can be used. Basically, many Web sites, including news sources, Webblogs, and funding sources, are beginning to generate RSS feeds. These feeds are made up of very simple code that can be read by an RSS aggregator.

What is an Aggregator?

An aggregator is a tool that allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds that interest you and combines those feeds. Some aggregators are software that runs on your computer and others are hosted on a Web site on a remote server. An aggregator periodically checks the Web sites that you have subscribed to for new content. This new content from the various sites is combined in a list, usually with a title and brief synopsis, for you to view. If you see something that sparks further interest, you can click on a link and go to the appropriate Web site to read the full article or news story.

   How to Set Up an RSS Feed Aggregator: Just go to one of the following URLs and follow the directions for setting up that particular aggregator.

• Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/register?r=/myblogs (Web-based with a small notification program that runs on your PC)

• NetNewsWire: http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/ (runs on your Mac)

• SharpReader: http://www.sharpreader.net/ (runs on Windows)

• NewsGator: http://www.newsgator.com/home.aspx (reads the news from within Microsoft Outlook) 

How to Find Feeds for Your Aggregator:

Well once you are set up, you will want to find those feeds that are of interest to you. When you are browsing Web sites, look for this symbol:     This will link you to the site's RSS feed. You can also search for feeds through a number of Web sites, including:

• Syndic8: http://www.syndic8.com/

• NewsIsFree: http://www.newsisfree.com/sources/bycat/

• Moreover… : http://w.moreover.com/categories/category_list_rss.html

You can also generate a search feed in most of the well-known search engines. Then, you can read updates to your search through your RSS aggregator. Jeremy Zawodny has created a form that generates a feed for a Yahoo search, available at http://jeremy.zawodny.com/ynews-search-rss.php. For MSN, you can create a search and then use your RSS aggregator to subscribe to the search by entering the URL of the Web page that your search generates.

Some Interesting Feeds

• Medscape Internal Medicine Headlines: http://www.medscape.com/internalmedicinehome

• The Chronicle Wired Campus Blog: http://wiredcampus.chronicle.com/

• BMC Medicine Education: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcmededuc/

• The New England Journal of Medicine: http://content.nejm.org/current.shtml

• News Feeds from National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/rss/index.html

• List of Journals that have RSS Feeds: http://www.library.unr.edu/ejournals/alphaRSS.aspx

Sources Consulted

• Richardson, Will (2005) RSS: A quick start guide for educators. Available at http://static.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/gems/tech/RSSFAQ4.pdf. Accessed 8/15/2005.

• Kennedy, Robert S. (2004). Weblogs, social software, and new interactivity on the Web, Psychiatric Services, 55(3), 247-249.

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