What does RSS mean to you?

Kerrie Smith asks the question, 'What does RSS mean to you? Do you use it?' on her education.au blog 'You are never alone'.

Kerrie writes ....
"Web 2.0, blogs, wikis, virtual environments, and social networking tools are not going to go away. If we have any sort of online life then they are going to increasingly be part of the way that we work. And yet when I conduct face to face workshops and begin to talk about RSS, eyes glaze over, and clearly my audience largely do not know what I am referring to. "

I can relate to Kerrie's lament and have posted my comments to Kerrie's blog posting and repeat some of my response here.

Discovering the power of RSS some years ago, I have done my best to share understandings with colleagues/other educators/students with some success. I have also experienced the …’talk about RSS, eyes glaze over’… syndrome. Practical and relevant examples do help in demystifying this but there’s a big pool of internet users, including educators, unaware of the vast potential of the Read/Write (Web2.0) world.

Luckily, there are also many talented, inspiring and generous folk who are making a difference in this area through social networking, online conferences etc. RSS underpins so much in the connected, collaborative world and is now much more pervasive, tools abound and are simple to use! Understanding and using aggregation is a necessary skill to be information literate.

I have been reading recently about the Queensland Government Department of Education's introduction of an ICT Pedagogical Licence (and their 'Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework'). These initiatives provide support for educators and 21st century learning environments in a connected Web2.0 world. A positive step!
(And fewer instances of 'eyes glazed over' in Kerrie's future workshops!)