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XML Resources 

Helpful Websites

Blogs

http://www.blogger.com/start 
Perhaps the top blogging site on the web. Create an account and you are ready to tell the world what you think of it. Since these are web-based blogs, there is no need to download software or upload data to a remote server.

http://help.blogger.com/ 
Blogger’s help site that is specific to the blogger site, but provides a good general overview of blogging.

http://blogsearch.google.com/ 
Google’s newest search engine, you can use it to search for just blogs – no websites allowed.

http://www.sixapart.com/ 
Software company that offers free and for fee tools for creating blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds. LiveJournal is a free web-based blog creator and Movable Type is a software version that can be used to create a blog on your own webpage.

RSS

http://feedster.com/index.php 
RSS directory site that now includes a podcast and blog directory. Use the Feedfinder to find links to your favorite website’s feeds, just type in the web address (i.e. www.cnn.com).

http://www.ipodder.org/ 
The original podcasting site, everything you need to know about the history of podcasting, how to get started as a podcaster, and where to go to find podcasts.

http://www.rssreader.com/ 
Website where you can get RSSReader, a basic software-based RSS reader that you can use for free.

http://www.syndic8.com/ 
Another RSS directory site. Famous for its statistics on RSS usage, news about RSS, and help documents.

http://www.faganfinder.com/search/rss.shtml 
RSS inside and out – good for basic information about getting started in RSS, but also contains more detailed information for those how want to create their own feeds. 

http://news.yahoo.com/rss 
Yahoo!’s main RSS page – lists RSS feeds available from Yahoo!, how-to guides for using RSS, and links to other helpful websites.

Wikis

http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?WikiWikiWeb 
The original, 100% pure, all wiki, all the time, page. This is the place to start if you want to know the history of wikis, how to get started, and even create your own wiki.

http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000644.html 
The title of this page says it all: Wikis in Plain English. Bonus: see bottom of page for RSS in Plain English.

Printed Material

Finkelstein, Ellen. Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds for Dummies. Wiley Publishing, Hoboken, NJ: 2005. ISBN 0-7645-8848-6.
Typical Dummies book and the best available on the subject, for both users and feed creators.

Dvorak, et. Al. “Solutions.” PC Magazine, October 18, 2005. pgs. 60-67.
Set of 3 articles about blogs, RSS, and podcasting.

Lamb, Brian. “Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not.” Educause Review, Sept./Oct. 2004, pgs. 36-48.
Article that reviews wikis and their place in the information world.
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0452.pdf 

Spanbauer, Scott and Steve Bass. “The New Web Challengers.” PC Word, February 2005. pgs. 65-74.
Article primarily reviews web browsers, but has some neat websites listed and little sidebars about RSS, blogs, and wikis.

 


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