Set Up a Google Reader Account for Yourself

Note: If you already use a Newsreader to subscribe to RSS feeds, you do not need to set up a news reader through Google, unless you want to. If you are able to share your feeds through your existing reader, you can just post the link to this reader for this exercise. For Bloglines, you can enable and find your public URL by:

1. Clicking on Account and then clicking the Blog Settings tab.
   

2. Type in a new username (this is different than your login user name).

3. Under Share My Blogroll, click Yes, publish my Blogroll.

4. Save your changes.

5. To find your public URL, click on Share in the left sidebar, beneath Additional Features.
   

Exercise

1. Go to http://reader.google.com.
2. If you already have a Google account, log in with this account. Otherwise you will need to create a new Google account.
3. Add a feed to your Reader. You can start by adding the feed for this wiki.
• In the right column, you will see an RSS icon near the Recently Changed heading. Click on the icon.
• Depending on your browser, you may get a user-friendly page that allows you to sign up for the RSS feed and choose your feed reader (Example). If so, simply select Google to add it to your Google Reader and follow the prompts to add it to Google Reader. Continue to Step 10.
• If you do not get a user-friendly page, highlight and copy the URL that displays in your address bar. (Example)
  
• Go back to Google Reader.
  
• Click on Add Subscription. (Example)
• Paste the URL into the text box and click on Add.
• The confirmation message telling you that the subscription was added will also give you the option to add the subscription to a folder. Click the dropdown and choose new folder. Give the folder the name Learning 2.0 and add your subscription there.
  
4. Add at least ten feeds to the Learning 2.0 folder in Google Reader.
• Start by adding some more feeds relevant to this class:

• The semls20 del.icio.us tag has a feed.
• The semls20 technorati tag has a feed.
  
  
• Go to your favorite news sites to see if they have a feed available. Look for the icon shown in step four or for any reference to RSS, XML, or RDF. Buttons for RSS feeds tend to be orange.
• Check out some of these recommended feeds.
• The semls20 del.icio.us tag contains links to several blogs with feeds.
• Search Google Reader for feeds.

1. Click on Manage Subscriptions in the lower left corner of the screen.
2. Click on the Tags link along the top menu bar.
3. Select the checkbox next to the Learning 2.0 folder.
   
4. Click on the arrow in the Change sharing dropdown menu. Select Public.
5. Click on the View Public Page link. This is the public page for the feeds you collected in your reader.
6. Post the link to your public page in the comments section of this page on the wiki. I will also post links to these page in the right sidebar later in the week.