Brian Webster - Blog

Tomorrow, I will give a presentation titled “Consuming Feeds” at the Extension Technology Showcase. John Dorner asked if I would share the presentation. The only PowerPoint I have is some screen shots that I’ll use if the Internet connection doesn’t work. Rather than sharing that (not too exciting), I’ll publish the outline I’ll be using.
Introduction (5 minutes)

1. Visual Aid
2. What is a feed?
3. Show “Trends” from Google Reader
4. Not just for technologist, Lynette and eXtension News

Demonstration Google Reader (15 minutes)

1. How to get an account
2. Navigating the Subscription List
3. Expanded vs List View
4. Add Star, Share, Email
5. Starred items

Other Readers (5 minutes)

1. FeedReader3
2. BlogLines
3. Outlook

What to look for on the page (5 minutes)

1. Firefox
2. Internet Explorer
3. Icons on the page

How to Subscribe (5 minutes)

Show Example Feeds (5 minutes)

Questions (5 minutes)

I hope the opening visual aid works. I have 15 brown paper lunch bags. Most have a few pieces of candy, a couple don’t have any. Many of the bags also have some packing peanuts. People will be encouraged to pick up some candy as they enter the room.

The presentation will start by explaining that the paper bags represent web pages, the candy represents content, and the packing peanuts is the “fluff” (ads, navigation, etc.) It’s a pain getting things from individual sites, and you probably stop once you find something that is acceptable. While talking about this, I’ll dump all the bags into a basket and sort out most the peanuts, and explain that this is what a reader does. ie It puts all your content into a single location, and makes it much easier to see what’s available to you. It also removes most of the fluff, you just see the content.