What an exciting technological world we live in! As a follow up to the Professional Learning Day we enjoyed in July I made a commitment to set up a blog to explore ideas and learning, initially in regard to RSS feeds. My first hurdle was to learn more about blogging, and now that is done, the ASLA Tas blog is up an running. Many of us made a commitment to set up RSS feeds to improve information services and delivery on our return to schools. How did you go?
Share your experiences here so that others can learn and be inspired.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
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4 comments:
I used MSN screensaver on to my work laptop. The only real challenge I had to deal with was adjusting the network settings to go through the network server. If you were establishing a feed on a home computer it would automatically detect a connection. It has been a great adventure finding relevant feeds to add, and have included a number from Edna, ICT journals, some relevant blogs, the weather, world news and other tools I use as part of my work team and that are regularly updated. One aspect of the MSN screensaver that I like is that the feeds come through in small boxes, placed on different parts of the page, so the images you use are more easily viewed.
At home I have am using a feeder in my browser, which provides an alternative way of being kept up to date. Firefox, a browser for Mac users, includes
Wizz RSS in its interface and feeds can be added easily by dragging the feed icon into its window and browsed by category. It also alerts you when updated information has come through. One of the advantages is that you can organise your feeds into categories and folders for easy retrieval.
What other feeders have people been using? Has RSS made a difference? For me, I have been alerted to highly relevant material (much of which I would never have looked for or been awae of) that not only have I found useful, but that I have been able to share with my colleagues.
Hi Jennie, the ALSA blog and RSS feeds are great. Congratulations.
I'm glad someone else is a Firefox fan, too. I use it at home on my PC and love it. I'd love to sneak it onto my computer at work, too, but I'm resisting the temptation ... for the time being, at least.
I am still using a stand alone RSS reader called 'RssReader' (original!), but integrated readers are the way to go.
Hi Jennie,
like you I was really interested in the RSS feeds that we learnt about at the conference. I came home and had a play around and was impressed with what I could put on there. Even my primary students are fascinated - firstly by the pretty pictures that change in the background, but also how I can put my interests on the screensaver and click on a link I am interested in.
The only problem I have found is that I can't add new feeds at school when I am on the network - it cannot detect a connection - so I have to wait until I am home to add any new feeds.
To add content to an RSS feed with a sceen saver when you are on a network you need to change the connection settings. For MSN: Open up your desktop properties, then screensaver and select 'settings' for MSN screensaver. Tick the 'proxy' box and add your network settings and port number for your network. These are the same settings you will find in your Intenet browser under 'Tools','Internet options', select 'Connections' tab and then 'LAN settings'.
If you wish to add a feed at home you will need to follow similar procedures and select the box in MSN settings for 'Automatic Proxy Detection'.
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