I don't see many of them jumping to learn RSS.
Why would anybody "learn RSS" .. I don't know TCP/IP but it doesn't prevent me from using the products of it. So long as SOMEBODY knows it and can keep the technology alive, why would EVERYBODY need to know it?
I think you're misunderstanding John's point and mine. We're not talking about learning RSS in the technical sense. Learning XML to understand RSS coding is pointless for most people. Besides, 99% of RSS feeds are created automatically, not coded by people. It's learning how to use RSS to find and receive the information you wish to seek that's the issue. So when I first posted about RSS and ICT literacy, it had nothing to do with learning RSS coding schemes - it's about learning about aggregators, search tools and creating custom feeds like Technorati, etc, that allow you to gather and share knowledge with RSS.
Heather Green of Business Week wrote the following easy-to-understand explanation of RSS, which I think captures the kinds of things people would want to learn how to do, none of which are technical in nature:
"If you're a news junkie, an online auction lover, or someone who wants to know when the latest songs, DVDs, and books are released, here's a technology that's perfect for you. Called Really Simple Syndication (RSS), it lets you pull together a list of Web sites you want to follow. So instead of surfing through The New York Times site for news, going to eBay to track a particular auction, or checking with Apple's iTunes to see when a new recording is available, you can get access to all the information through one Web page or download to your computer."
-- ----------------------------------- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media & Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com ----------------------------------- _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
