Lesson 5 RSS: Think, Explore and Explain

Lesson 5: Really Simple Syndication (RSS) -Keeping up to date, staying organised
Think, Explore and Explain

Think
1. Which sites do you visit regularly? Make a list (4-5 is fine). Before you began this course, what did you do (or still do) to keep yourself up to date on new content posted to your favourite sites?

Sites I visit regularly:
1 Monex securities (Stock exchange)
2 Company's webiste which I invest
3 Facebook
4 w3 (ICU internal network)
5 Moodle (ICU course website)

Before I enroll this course, I signed up to mailing lists of those websites. Since I signed up to those mailing lists, new upcoming information will automatically delivered to my email inbox.
In addition to collecting the information online, I used to (am still doing) call the corporations which I invest to gather their most up-to-date information. Those information were mostly tiny bit of information, but they are sometimes very useful when making decisions. Although those information are not posted online (=therefore, not relating this question), this kind of hands on effort would be necessary even if the digital age has advanced.
Explore
1 Monex securities (Stock exchange)⇒They have RSS buttons.
2 Company's webistes which I invest⇒Some companies have RSS buttons
3 Facebook⇒They do not have RSS buttons.
4 w3 (ICU internal network)⇒They do not have RSS buttons.
5 Moodle (ICU course website)⇒They do not have RSS buttons.

Possible reasons for havnig RSS feed
1 Monex⇒Since they deal with tremendous information regarding market conditions, interest rates and so on, the need for RSS will certainly exist. Also, since they(=Monex Securities) collect information from the government (U.S treasurely, etc), they actually utilize RSS buttons which the governmental offices have. I suppose that this phenomenon is intriguing because this shows us that one site utilizes the RSS buttons which the other have.

2 Some companies had posted the CEO's blogs in their official website, so I suppose they want to appeal their passion for their company to the investors. I thought that this is an example of using RSS as an advertising tools.

3 Facebook⇒Maybe they don't feel the need for RSS because the friend's up to date information will delivered to us by automatically when I log in to my profile. Since Facebook is a SNS, having RSS functions might leak the personal information of individuals.

4 W3⇒In order to access the internal network of ICU, I suppose we have to have a password.

5 Moodle⇒In order to access the internal network of ICU, I suppose we have to have a password. Since this site upload the up-to-date information of the course contents, the users are required to input the password.

2. I thought the significance of RSS from the video is that RSS certainly changed the flows of information. By using RSS, the flows of information have changed in that the arrows of data collecting process had come to us!

Explain
1. What are the main skills needed to use Google Reader?
First, you have to define what websites you want to get RSS. Although many of the websites have RSS feed, some websites which usually not too popular enough don't have any RSS feed.

2. What are the affordances of RSS (what does it make possible, what does it impede)?
What RSS makes possible is that you can acquire the up-to-date information in a very limited time. What RSS can't do is that if the websites I'm particularly interested doesn't have RSS feed, I have to follow the traditional way to gather information. From my point of view, RSS functions have an absolute purpose of collecting up-to-date information, but there are websites which the old past information will be particularly useful. In that way, RSS may have to alter to adapt the need for those websites in the future.

3. How can Google Reader be used to network professionally and connect you (& other students) to learning resources?
Since the Google Reader collects and stores the up-to-date information, the Google Reader can even be used as a information storing tool. Therefore, we can search the past information because they are ordered fashionably, which makes it easier to search the older post. Therefore, those functions makes it relatively easier to network professionally and connect to learning resources

4. What skills and understandings have you learned about RSS that may promote your development as an effective learner in the digital age?
First of all, I learned that there are free softwares, which functions as RSS! Personally, I suppose that we need to keep in touch with the up-to-date software whenever possible in order to keep up with the latest versions of the online softwares. I realized that it is probably the best way to promote our development sa an effective learning in the digital age in that we should keep in touch with the latest editions of the technology updates.