You may have noticed a small orange coloured
button with the letters RSS on many web sites, and perhaps wondered what it
was.
The RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication
and it is an easy way for you to keep updated automatically on websites you
like.
Instead of you having to go to websites to
see if they've written a new article or feature, you can use RSS to get them to
tell you every time they have something new.
Firstly, you need to download and install a
news-reader – this is a piece of software that is often free (but may incur a
cost). It is used to record and monitor the RSS “feeds” or channels in which
you are interested, and alert you when new content has been posted.
There are many readers available for
Windows, Mac and Linux computer operating systems. Google, the search engine
has produced a useful listing, which can be found here:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Libraries/Library_and_Information_Science/Technical_Services/Cataloguing/Metadata/RDF/Applications/RSS/News_Readers/
You then need to subscribe to any RSS feeds
or channels in which you are interested and add them to the reader you have
selected. You will then be notified when new content is available on the web
site/sites you have selected.
