Where have you been all my - online - life? A guide to RSS

What do you want?
We want, information
You wont get it

the prisoner opening titles

As students you must all place at least some value in information. Surly it wouldn't be worth spending the thousands of pounds and enduring the torture of a 9am lecture if you guys didn't think it was worth your while? Personally I think information is power and look forward to the day when books can be swallowed in pill form and chucks of facts can be smashed into my face with a iHammer.

Birmingham, perhaps more than any other city, has not only embraced the internet, but took it round the back of the club for a fumble. There is so much information it can be perhaps too much to keep track of. I get it, your a busy person, if you are a student anything like I was, you have shots to do, tutors to avoid, and an interesting rash to get check by a the uni nurse.

What if I was to tell you that there was a way of checking thousands of websites in almost no time by visiting only one web-site? I am, of course, talking about the wonders of RSS.

Go Watch this short and completely non-complicated video, go on. I'll be waiting right here.

Get it? Basically its like having all the content delivered to your computer. I personally use Google Reader but others are available if you're worried about Google's encroaching complete dominance of the internet. Go set up an account now, I'll wait.

Got that? Good. Now start browsing your normal sites adding them as you go, some make it easy, some really difficult. But its worth it. To get you started I've got a few essential Birmingham feeds to start you off.

Birmingham It's Not S**t – Birmingham filtered from the PR BS

Created In Birmingham – great blog, that does exactly what it sez on the tin, tracking all the creative stuff in our fair city.

More Canals than Venice – picks up some of the smaller events some other blogs miss

The Hearing Aid – nice little music blog

Capsule – alternative music and curators of the strangegood events of Birmingham's music scene, including the epic Supersonic festival

Fused Magazine – local free bible of cool,like if the Gideons wore tight trousers and abandoned hotel rooms for trendy pubs

Russ L – Russ L's guide to what to see and do has long been a open secret in the local web community as one of the best round ups of local events.

Birmingham Mail – because who wants to pay for the local rag each day?

This is in no means an exhaustive list, and intended only as a starting point. If you have any feeds you recommend why not stick them in the comments or send them to – livelearnbham@gmail.com and I will do a round up of the best ones in, lets say a week? OK GO!

(Now in the interests of complete transparency, I have been involved in a couple of those sites at various times. But I get around, what can I say?)