This week the Learning 2.0 at Imperial course is looking at RSS
One of the activities is to subscribe to 10 or more feeds on Bloglines or Google Reader, but as I've got loads of feeds in my reader already (I use Google Reader), I thought I could do something else instead. What I've done is create an 'OPML' (Outline Processor Markup Language) file for all the blogs created by participants in the Learning 2.0 programme.
What is an OPML file? It is essentially a format for lists, which computers can read (similar to RSS, it uses XML to give structure). Probably the most common use of OPML is to list RSS feeds for import or export to/from RSS readers like Bloglines and Google Reader.
The OPML file for all the Learning 2.0 blogs is available at http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/learning_20/learning_20_opml.xml – if you click this link, and download the file, then you can import it into your feed reader software. For example in Google Reader, find the option 'Manage subscriptions', choose 'Import/Export', use the 'Browse' option to find the file on your computer (where you previously downloaded it) and click 'Upload' – this should get you all the RSS feeds for the Learning 2.0 blogs.
Bloglines also supports the import of OPML files – see http://www.bloglines.com/help/faq#import.
I've created a couple of other OPML files as well:
- http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/learning_20/Imperial_Library_Blogs.xml
- An OPML list of all the blogs run by Imperial College Library (that I'm aware of)
- http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/learning_20/owens_feeds.xml
- An OPML list of all the blogs I subscribe to in Google Reader (includes the other two OPML lists and a whole lot more)
Feel free to download these and import them into your reader (although be warned that the last one has a lot of feeds in it, and following this number of feeds can be a bit intimidating)