RSS, Del.icio.us, and Practicioner Reports

I have been and still am confused about what RSS feed is and adding a widget to my blog.  I tried multiple times to add the icon (or whatever it is called) to my blog for the RSS feed, but everytime I added it, all of my bloglines got deleted.  I am trying to research how to add this feed and what it really means, but I am not having much luck.   I’m hoping to get help with this in class this coming week.

I’m also trying to learn about del.icio.us  accounts and how to use del.icio.us, and what the benefits are.  More on that later.  

I haven’t quite decided who I am going to do my “Practicioner Report” on, but I have narrowed it down to a couple of people.  I know I need to decide soon so that I can proceed.