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Podcasting is just one of a suite of new tools that are taking the Internet and its users to new heights. Podcasting involves the creation of digital audio files and the distribution of those files in a way that makes it easy for visitors to listen to them wherever and whenever it is convenient. In schools, podcasts have been quick to take root. This article provides ideas on how libraries can harness the power of podcasts. This article also provides ideas on how to create podcasts.

RSS or Real Simple Syndication is a technology that allows an information user to subscribe to "feeds" or streams of information from any number of content producers, including traditional media outlets and blogs, all for free. With RSS, one can connect to more information in less time, thus keeping track of news, ideas, and conversations almost as they happen. Instead of pointing and clicking through dozens of sites to learn what's new, RSS brings it all together in one place. This article explains how RSS works and how RSS feeds can be used in schools. This article also provides strategies on how to get started with RSS. A list of links that provide valuable information on RSS is also presented.

Blogs, wikis, and other nifty Web-based tools, ones that enable everyone to create and distribute content like never before, get all the glory, it seems. Then there are the applications that help them organize all that material that they consume online. Though not as sexy, perhaps, as blogging or podcasting, social bookmarking is equally empowering to users, helping them make sense of what they find and use on the Web and, even better, enabling them to share their treasures with others. While traditional library methods have effectively tamed print resources, the digital content residing on more than one billion Web pages is a different beast altogether. Enter social bookmarking, tagging, and folksonomies. In a nutshell, the operating principle behind these concepts is this: if one finds something interesting enough to save, odds are good that you will, too. And together, using these tools, everybody can build comprehensive resource lists much more effectively than any one of them could working alone. Exemplifying the wisdom of crowds, these applications are fast becoming an important resource for relevant information.

This article takes a look at tech guru Will Richardson's new book, "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms." Whether it's blogs or wikis or RSS, all roads now point to a Web where little is done in isolation. The biggest, most sweeping change in the people's relationship with the Internet may not be as much the ability to publish as it is the ability to share, connect, and create with many, many others of like minds and interests. These social connections, these "small pieces loosely joined," as author David Weinberger puts it, are where the real power and potential of the Read/Write Web lies for educators and students. The collaborative construction of knowledge by those willing to contribute is redefining the ways people think about teaching and learning at every level. This vision is much different from the traditional classroom where most student work is done in isolation, never finding connections to a larger whole that might be produced by the class in its entirety. With blogs and wikis, these social interactions focus on the creation of content and meaning. They can be collaborative spaces where people negotiate and construct meaning and texts. Regardless of how you do it, the idea that people can now use social networks to tap into the work of others to support their own learning is an important concept to understand. Examples of other tools that are being borne out on the Read/Write Web that focus primarily on creating connections rather than creating content are provided.

Blogs are not a passing fad as a new blog is created every second. There are more than 900,000 blog posts a day. Blogs are one of many new disruptive technologies that are transforming the world. They are creating a richer, more dynamic, more interactive Web where participation is the rule rather than the exception. Classrooms and schools are about to be enveloped by these changes as well. In this article, the author relates that in his school, Web logs are used as collaborative spaces where students, teachers, and guests can build content together. He also discusses the safety issues concerning children accessing certain sites.