Looks like this is going to be a busy week … let’s hope the snow doesn’t slow us down too much.
Thing 4 – What is RSS?
You’ve heard of RSS? You’ve seen those small funny orange icons on websites? You’ve heard friends and colleagues swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is?
RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web. Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit everyday. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it?
Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS!
This week’s Things focus on learning about RSS news feeds and what free tools you can use to do this.
- View WPBeginner’s video What is RSS? – This video explains what RSS feeds are, what are the benefits of RSS, how to use RSS feeds and how to take your WordPress RSS feeds to the next level.
- See also a short video on YouTube on how to add feeds.
- Check out this article from PC Magazine – Top Free Picks: RSS Readers.
Tasks
- Select a Feed Reader and set up your own personalized account. Learn about the difference between RSS feed readers.
- Subscribe to at least 5 newsfeeds then blog about the Reader you selected and the feeds to which you subscribed. If you’re struggling to find some newsfeeds, you can use the ones listed below…
Sample newsfeeds
… and don’t forget to add all the 23Things participant’s blogs to your reader.
Thing 5 – Password Keepers
There are many options for web and mobile password keepers, your memory or a list kept on your desktop, but when it comes to security you want the best. “It used to be that password keepers only had to encrypt your passwords. Now the best password managers give you the options to sync or keep them local only, change web passwords with a click, log in to sites for you, and more.” http://Lifehacker.com/tag/password-managers
Use different passwords everywhere
These days, people are getting pretty good at coming up with passwords that are long and complex, so that they can’t be guessed by hackers. But we’re all still pretty bad at not reusing passwords, and that’s dangerous. If you use the same password for any two of your accounts, then an attacker might only need to break into one of those two systems in order to break into the other. And because the bad guys can rely upon the majority of the people with accounts on the first system using the same passwords for their accounts on the second, this kind of attack is very popular.
Remembering hundreds of different passwords is just-about impossible, though. But the good news is, you don’t have to! There are a plethora of password managers: programs which will remember your passwords for you. Some keep your passwords securely on a pendrive, others store them encrypted on the web, others still represent a ‘formula’ by which passwords can be generated (and re-generated) on demand. Not only do these tools make you more secure online, but – once you get used to them – they actually make your online life faster and easier, too. Try one of these:
- LastPass and DashLane are both easy-to-use, free, web-based password managers, with optional low-priced top-ups for extra features like smartphone editions and advanced two-factor authentication options
- KeePass is free and open source, and runs on your computer or pendrive, which some people consider more convenient or secure, but can take a little more work to get started
- SuperGenPass generates unique passwords for each site you use, based on a master password (that you don’t use anywhere else); instead of remembering passwords, you just re-generate them; and it’s free
- Mac users might also consider 1Password (now available for other platforms too), and Unix geeks might like pass.
Tasks
- Select a password keeper and set up an account.
Thing 6 – Creative Commons and Copyright
Image by Opensourceway on Flickr
Next week we will begin to look at images; it’s important to understand the basics of what you can and can’t use online. This post won’t/can’t cover it all (governments are grappling with the complexities of online copyright as we speak!), but we’ll look at Creative Commons and how it frees us to share and reuse online.
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organisation that offers a simple, standardized way to give public permission to share and/or use your creative work. CC licenses offer various levels of permissions, from ‘all rights reserved’ to ‘some rights reserved’. CC licenses are now commonly found on photos, blogs (including this blog), published material, teaching resources, music and more.
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An example of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
A video to explain Creative Commons.
Tasks
- Take a look at the types of licenses available on the CC license page. Think about whether any of these might be appropriate for any of your work.
- Consider adding a Creative Commons license to your blog or another piece of online work by using the ‘Choose a license’ page. Hint: search WordPress help for how to insert a creative commons widget.
Canada Copyright
And an explanation of copyright in Canada
Copyright law exists to protect the intellectual standing and economic rights of creators and publishers of all literary, dramatic, artistic, musical, audiovisual and electronic works. As long as the work is original, copyright protection is automatic. You break copyright if you:
- copy work
- issue copies of the work
- perform, show or play the work in public
- broadcast the work
- adapt the work …..without permission from the copyright owner
Websites that rely on collaboration, user contribution and the sharing of files all run the risk of breaking copyright law. Even using somebody else’s photograph without permission on your website can get you into serious trouble. The safest way to proceed is to ask the creator for permission to use their content, or to look for content registered under Creative Commons.
Libel, defamation, harassment and loss of reputation
Some individuals could use a social networking site, blog or wiki to criticize an organisation or post libelous, inappropriate or illegal content. In 2014 two individuals were convicted of sending abusive tweets to Caroline Criado-Perez. The ability for people to anonymously post defamatory and offensive comments on social media sites is of major concern to local authorities and individuals. Some authorities will have guidelines for the use of Web 2.0 for business purposes. Remember that bad press gets round fast with social media.
Tasks
- Watch this commoncraft video on Social Media and the Workplace.
- Read SMU’s policy for social media.
Now that you have a blog, it’s possible to moderate people’s comments before they are published, but if you do moderate then you are legally responsible for the content, so you could be liable if it breaches copyright or is defamatory. Legally, it’s simpler not to moderate and publish full disclaimers. You can find examples of blog disclaimers by searching google.
Most Web 2.0 software is free as it comes with third party advertising: some of these adverts may be inappropriate or offensive and could become associated with yourself or your library authority. Loss of reputation could also occur if editorial attention is not paid to any contributions made to a site (on a wiki for example) and the site becomes badly organized or publishes inaccurate information.
Finally, think about what you are saying about your employer when you use social media. Internet history is littered with people who bad-mouthed their boss or colleagues during a drunken night on Facebook, and got fired the next day. If you’re going to vent your anger, do it at the pub rather than in writing.
23 Things @ PPL 2015 