How to search the web and have the web come to you (RSS)

I'm giving an hour-long intro/demo to searching the web and using RSS to East Lothian ICT Coordinators this afternoon (4pm at Prestonpans Education Centre) and have started to populate the support wiki with some ideas. I'd be grateful if anyone has extra ideas or good resources can add them to the page to help support the staff further.

The ICT Coordinators are a crucial group of educators and managers in the authority, able to help persuade staff to come on training sessions or create their own in-house training sessions on the issues we cover. There is a dedicated CPD session on this subject later in May, so the potential to have a relatively big impact in some schools is there.

For me, RSS is the only way anyone will ever be able to cope with the huge amounts of information on the web. Today I am very much starting off with an efficiency angle, but feel that the educational uses, especially in current affair-led subjects such as Modern Studies and English language, its potential is much more than mere efficiency gains.

If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about I look forward to meeting you on May 24th's training session to help you become among the fastest surfers on the web!

Comments

[Mike Coulter]

Ewan, I saw this a day or two ago:

http://digitalagency.typepad.com/digitalagency/2007/04/rss_explained_i.html

You probably picked it up too, but if not, hope it helps some.

Mike

[Mike Coulter]

whoops, should have checked the resource page first, you do have it.

Here's a overview of rss uptake. (US/last year apart from that it might be useful.)

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004127

[Dean Shareski]

Ewan,

Please feel free to use any of the material on my wiki as well:
http://shareski.wikispaces.com/RSS

Interestingly, I'm doing a session on RSS at the "Learning in a Digital World" in Saskatoon , SK.

I posted a request on my blog for testimonials for RSS. Since my session is at 1PM Mountain Standard time, I'm sure that precludes you from chiming in but if you're interested I'd love to have you Skype in to tell me of your experience with RSS. Of course, I'd do the same for you....all the best with your talk.