Feed yourself information and podcasts too!

I've got so much new stuff to tell you about, well not that new, but def. the way forward. First of all I need to get you up to speed on site feeds which is a special file used to describe website articles or content. You might have seen the following graphics on web-sites you visit (the BBC website has loads of site feeds and also offers a nice explanation of what they are).

(these are just some you might see)

You subscribe to these feeds either using a feed aggregator, this can simply be a web-based service, a standalone computer application such as Awasu, or an add-in for Microsoft Outlook such as Attensa (my favourite at the moment, if you don't have sufficient priviledges ask NBS IT to install it for you). Once subscribed, the aggregator simply delivers a synopsis of the web-site content direct to your desktop, multiple websites all in one place, no more will you have to keep visiting all your favourite websites (that should save you some time), see an article you like, click on it, and you're transported to the full article on the web-site.

Once I've got you up to speed on that, and hopefully using it, you might want to have a look at podcasts, there is an article on the BBC website which outlines what they are. They are essentially glorified feeds with audio add-ons to put it in lay-terms. Some educators have already started using them to supplement their teaching; think e-learning here folks, although this isn't an exclusive domain.

Just a taster of things to come, shortly....