Too much information!
ron - Wed, 10/08/2008 - 09:57
There is a problem in the world of the internet. There is simply too much information out there! Why even bother searching on Google or MSN or Yahoo.. if the results give you a million choices? And I don't want Google or Microsoft to decide what I see, and what I don't. How are you to know which choice you make is the one that best meets your needs? And when you do find an excellent website, is making it a "favourite" enough?
Wouldn't it be nice if that website told you that they have new content appropriate to you! Welcome to RSS.
The acronym "RSS" is sometimes refer to as "Rich Site Summary". RSS is a web feed format used to publish frequently updated pages, such as blogs or news feeds. And it's been around for a few years. But people still don't get it.
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Publishers of RSS content (like Google News, or Yahoo News, and many other websites out there, etc.) can look at the feeds offered by thousands of websites, blogs, and feeds and decide which is more important content to display on their websites. Google News doesn't have any "reporters", so they rely solely on newswires, and RSS feeds. But now YOU can make that choice.. purposefully. I say purposefully, and maybe the better word is "knowingly". Because, for years, thousands of websites have been using tracking technologies (like cookies) to customize the look of their website for you automatically. Without your knowledge. For most of us that sounds horrible. Big brother is watching. But that's not what I want to talk about! That's another blog post of it's own. What I want to say, is that we now have the ability to control our own viewing habits...
So consumers of RSS content (thats YOU) can use their internet browsers to view dozens or even hundreds of web feeds at once! |
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With new internet browsers like the latest version of Internet Explorer (or Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.), you can easily add "RSS-like" feeds to your browser. And like me, you can even personalize your home page to receive RSS feeds. On my Google (or AOL, Yahoo, MSN and many more) personalized home page, I see the stats of my favourite athlete (Steve Nash), I see my horoscope, joke of the day, news from the CBC and CNN. And I also can see whenever there is a new Autism news article on the POPARD website. And as my students might say, "That's cool!".
But to me, and the thousands of teachers in the world who have children with Autism or FASD in their classrooms, I say hooray! Imagine a teacher in a school recieving the latest techniques used by consultants in the field of Autism via RSS directly to their laptop -- without doing a hit and miss Google search.
I mention these afflictions... becasuse we maintain three websites for the BC Ministry of Education - www.autismoutreach.ca, www.fasdoutreach.ca, and www.auditoryoutreach.ca. All our websites use RSS feeds so that people who need to read this information, can subscribe. And it's free!
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Accolades
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'Cindy Pearson, Vice President BC Technical Industries Association & Morrey Rae Hutnick, Director International Business Summits BC Canada''s Pacific Gateway'
"The Media FX team has done an OUTSTANDING job. Thanks so much for the hours you and put into this and more importantly for your patience and commitment to getting it right... ...I think the BC Video is world class and will do us proud. All of it is terrific. Lots of very hard work went into this and you can tell."
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Alistair Tavares, PEO
"You did a fantastic job on the video. It was so good that most members gave a standing ovation and if they were not standing they were sitting and applauding the quality of the video. Now let me not forget your staging guys. If it was not for them, the quality of the video would have not been felt and I literally mean felt. The staging, the video was nothing short of brilliant!"
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Linda Sawyer, Executive Director, Royal Canadian Legion
"I am so impressed with the website! We will be the envy of all the other provinces! Your attention to detail is incredible and when this website is available to our members I know they will be impressed."
