What is a Feed?
A feed is a connection between a site on the world wide web and your own personal site or aggregator. It could be visualized as a one-way pipeline from the outside site to you.
What is RSS?
RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” It is a file format that makes feeds possible. In the information world, RSS has changed the way news, media, and content creators share information, and it is changing the way everyday users are consuming information.
RSS feeds are used not only on the open internet, but are also available on most of our online databases. If you or your students are researching a topic, you can set up a request for the EBSCO database to email articles on your topic to you as they are published and made available within that collection. This is especially helpful for long-term research, but it could also be used to keep the newest information about your subject area coming to you so you can be up-to-date and have pertinent information to share with your students.
Read more about RSS.What is an Aggregator?
Remember the song "Way Down Yonder in the Paw Paw Patch"? Think Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans. (If you've never heard of them, don't depress the rest of us by sharing.) If you don't know the song, click on the picture below:
In the song, those singing are looking for someone. The person sought is always "...way down yonder in the paw paw patch, picking up paw paws, puttin' dem in a basket..." An aggregator is like your basket for RSS Feeds. You basically pick up feeds and put dem in your basket. 
And for those of you who are Captain Kangaroo illiterate, you can travel back in time to 1960 by clicking on the pictures below. The Captain is on the left and Mr. Green Jeans is on the right.There are a variety of aggregators available for use. We will be using Google Reader for this class.
