Alas, I am not here to wax nostalgic, but to look forward, and remind you that all remains possible and even more now in 2025. The basic glue of RSS still not only works, but works fantastically, reliably– the next time someone quips that “Google killed RSS” or “RSS is dead” ask them how they automatically get new podcast episodes. The feed reader that so many have tossed for the drip feed of social media remains the one technology that is not lying about saving time.
I will show you how a mixture of old school social bookmarking drives automated cross connecting separate spaces, using the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress to federate to Mastodon (e.g. for the DS106 Daily Create as well as the OEGlobal Voices podcast), posting to and from Discourse forums. I will show how I make use of Integrator services, just the simple IFTTT, but also Make and Zapier as a no-code route for joining small web pieces.
Raise your rally flag for small pieces loosely joined.
Comments Archive
reclaimhosting: Welcome to the Chat
Christina Hendricks: "Get Federated" shirt!
Jason: Small Pieces Still Loosely Joined, Integrated, Federated https://cog.dog/show/2025/11/05/small-pieces-reclaim-open/
Jason: I'll be dropping links for Alan here during his talk.
Rushaw: I check out the copy from the UNF library - trying to read small pieces when I can.
Jason: "Watch" in Pinboard https://pinboard.in/u:cogdog/t:reclaimopen25
JIm Groom: @rushaw I caught that joke
Jason: The Indispensable Digital Research Tool I can Say, Without Lying, Saves Time https://cogdogblog.com/2017/09/indispensable-tool/
Rushaw: I'm here all week.
Jason: CogDogBlog Tagged RSS https://cogdogblog.com/tag/rss/
JIm Groom: It's always awesome to har Alan present
Jason: will add these all to the discord chat at the end as well in one big list
Jason: Pluralistic: You should be using an RSS reader https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/16/keep-it-really-simple-stupid/
Stephen Downes: I couldn't function without RSS
Jason: Be a RSS Smart Marty https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ekzLAKdpHdRWjJ6GH_pEoQtENgVeaEFu3_ZXq_47W4/edit?usp=sharing
Jason: I still love WP too!
Tim Klapdor: I have a soft spot for WP because of you Alan!
Carmen Vallis: Hello all..
Christina Hendricks: Oh wow, I didn't know that you could use RSS with all of these! I was only using it for blogs.
JIm Groom: Hi Carmen, welcome!
Jason: Three (of many) integrators https://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/54902884551/
Jason: Love me some IFTT
mags: @tim just watched your 11ty pres., thank you for the clear explanation.
Jason: Cool Tech Demo of Small Web Pieces Still Loosely Joined https://youtu.be/jK-0XHyFYJE
taylorjadin: Newsletters are cool but I don't want them in my inbox, I really don't need more email. I always subscribe via RSS or if they truly don't offer it I find ways to forward the email into my RSS service. Feedbin.com has this built in, but I've used other services in the past too
Stephen Downes: I use Pinboard to stager (some) links for my newsletter
Jason: All Daily Creates Archive https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10g49qCrHb375PA_GAKpFAiMoygt0U_qDjayjY8j2yh0/edit?usp=sharing
Stephen Downes: stage, not stager
Mark: The website we made for the conference (click my name) has a page of Mastodon rss feeds that is just HTML and CSS, styled to mimic the WP site. And yes, I used a LLM to help me write the code.
https://wildds106.combobulating.net/
Christina Hendricks: Agree, @Taylor, about not wanting more email. I have a few great newsletters I want to get emails about, but not all. Great to know that we can do newsletters via RSS.
mags: i love seeing folx Daily Creates
Jason: Mastodon RSS to Google Sheet in Make https://pixelfed.social/p/cogdog/891051288964072987
Jason: Get the Shirt! Get Federated https://cogdog.threadless.com/designs/get-federated
Jason: Gizmoing to Mastodon https://cogdogblog.com/2022/11/gizmo-to-mastodon
Blogging Federatedly: Reclaim Hosting Community Chat https://cogdogblog.com/2025/09/blogging-federatedly/
WordPress Federated 5 pack https://cosocial.ca/@cogdog/115497641122685318
Stephen Downes: I have that shirt. Andrea said it's not appropriate to wear to the office (she's not familar with Get Smart, so her mind went elsewhere)
Stephen Downes: IFTTT never worked for Mastodon for me (so I coded my own)
mags: I got the shirt after Alan wore it to OER in cork - love it
Rushaw: I boost myself, sung to the tune by the Divinyls
Mark: Since Canada is a federation, Get Federated means become Canadian, doesn't it?
Rushaw: @Mark another reason I love Canada
Stephen Downes: Actually, Canada is (officially) a confederation
Stephen Downes: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/confederation
mags: Alan :) Nov 5th is a historic date for ambition plans after all ...
Stephen Downes: Alan is going to see recursion
Christina Hendricks: Learned so much, as I always do from you--thank you Alan!
Rushaw: So much link treasure
Mark: Thanks Stephen, to us ignorant USians, it's like flammable and inflammable.
Christina Hendricks: OL Daily is amazing!
Rushaw: Thanks, Alan shoutouts x2
mags: enjoyed that from already evening time inn Ireland
Stephen Downes: Get Smart is one of my top 5 programs
HibbittsDesign: Thanks for the session Alan!
One thought on “Small Pieces Still Loosely Joined, Integrated, Federated”
Comments are closed.