Drowning in Information? All you need is three simple letters: RSS
For a brief introduction to what RSS can do, watch the video below.
Wow! I want one!
Step 1: Get a Google Reader Account
Go to: www.google.com/reader to sign up If you have a Gmail account - you can sign up with your same username and password.
Step 2:Find News
Signing up to receive news at your Google Reader Account is called Subscribing.
<----- Images like these are your friends! Before you search for news, see if you favorite websites already have RSS.
For example: Your job requires you to keep up with a wide array of data and the Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Datais your Bible. Visiting the journal's website you notice the orange "rss" button and clicking on it allows you to subscribe to news on this topic.
Sometimes they make it a little more challenging to find their RSS. Government Executive doesn't use an image but if you scroll down to the
very bottom of the page there is a link that says "News Feeds." This
leads you to a page where you can view and subscribe to several
different feeds.
If you are a Firefox user, an orange icon in you address bar will tell you if a site has an RSS feed. Click on the icon and it will add it to the Live Bookmarks in Firefox. Live Bookmarks are a way to view RSS feeds without a reader like Google Reader. Google Reader is more robust and easier to manage - but seeing this icon in Firefox tells you to keep looking on the website for that elusive RSS!
Step 3:Subscribe
Once you find the RSS webpage (this web page may look like crazy code in your browser), copy the URL from the address bar.
Now paste this into the "Add Subscription" in Google Reader.
Firefox users have an additional option! If you are using Greasemonkey you can install Jasper's Google Reader Subscriber script. This simple script shows an RSS icon in the right corner of any page with an RSS feed. Click on the icon and you can instantly subscribe in Google Reader without having to find, copy and paste the actual feed address. Need help? Call Paige Lucas-Stannard at 3-8499.
That's it! Next month we will be talking about how Google Reader can help you share news with others.
Finding the Best News
NASA News
NASA RSS Feeds
(visit the link or copy the URL directly to subscribe)
Weather, earthquakes, energy, cyber alert system documents, scientific research...
Custom News
You can create an RSS News feed that is so specific it stops you from having to search.
For example: Say you want to keep up with news concerning Nanotechnology and its applications in Space. You can run a Google News search for "nanotechnology and space" (no quotes). On the left side of the page you will see a link that says RSS. Click this link and subscribe with Google Reader. Now, each time Google comes across a news story on your topic it will send it to your Google Reader - no more searching!
For example: Many databases now have RSS capabilities. Engineering Village - a multi-subject technical database subscribed to at NASA Glenn has search specific RSS. If we run the same search for "nanotechnology and space" you will see our friendly, orange RSS icon at the top of the page. Click on this to subscribe to the feed and everytime a new article is added to the database Engineering Village will send it to your Google Reader - never be the last to know!
Customized news feeds is a service offered by Glenn Technical Library at NO CHARGE to Glenn employees. Call Paige Lucas-Stannard for more information at 3-8499.
Drowning in Information? All you need is three simple letters: RSS
If you have a Gmail account - you can sign up with your same username and password.
<----- Images like these are your friends! Before you search for news, see if you favorite websites already have RSS. For example: Your job requires you to keep up with a wide array of data and the Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data is your Bible. Visiting the journal's website you notice the orange "rss" button and clicking on it allows you to subscribe to news on this topic.
If you are a Firefox user, an orange icon in you address bar will tell you if a site has an RSS feed. Click on the icon and it will add it to the Live Bookmarks in Firefox. Live Bookmarks are a way to view RSS feeds without a reader like Google Reader. Google Reader is more robust and easier to manage - but seeing this icon in Firefox tells you to keep looking on the website for that elusive RSS!
Breaking News (http://www.nasa.gov/rss/breaking_news.rss)
