HOWTO for Bb administrators: Using RSS feeds as content modules in Blackboard
April 30, 2005HOWTO for Bb administrators: Using RSS feeds as content modules in Blackboard
Login to Blackboard, enter the system admin area.
Under ‘Portal System’ choose Manage Channels. Note here that Blackboard calls RSS feeds ‘Channels’, like Microsoft did in the late 90’s. I personally feel that this is a bad choice, since giving something a cute mnemonic name when it has a proper name with reknown is likely to confuse people, and implies a sort of ownership of an open standard. The proprietary nature of renaming common protocols is dangerous to open standards.
From within Manage Channels, click on add channel.
In the resulting dialog, rss is explained just a little, and the dialog asks for Title, Description, Image Source, Image Link. Data Source, and Update Frequency. You need only add the Title for the ‘channel’ and the Data Source, which is the RSS feed itself. These are the only required fields]
RSS feeds are often found on content sites as little orange rectangular buttons that say RSS or XML on them. The URL that the button goes to is the RSS feed, and that URL is what you put in the Data Source field.
Using my ‘freshmeat finds’ blog at http://ghost.rider.edu/freshmeat as an example, the Title could be “Freshmeat Finds”, and the Data Source would be “http://ghost.rider.edu/freshmeat/wp-rss2.php” both without quotes. The frequency is up to you but you can change it to match the frequency of posting on the site providing the feed. NYTimes feeds update often, so you might want the frequency to be greater than every 12 hours. My site updates less frequently, so 12 hours would likely be fine.
Once you have the channel you can use it in your Modules wherever channels are available as the source of content.
For example, return to the administration panel, and enter manage modules under Portal System.
Add a module, and name it something similar to the channel. The module type is Channel. Add a description for what to expect from the feed. Make it available, select who should see it according to portal role.[faculty might enjoy freshmeat filter, but students and admin staff may not care for it.] Finally, choose a Bb user to be the admin for the feed. That may be you. Click Submit.
Now you have a module that syndicates the ‘channel’ you created. You can use that module in your tabs just like any other module.
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