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RSS Basics and Beyond
RSS Basics and BeyondTips and Tricks for Getting the Most out of Syndicated
Content
13 June 2007 RSS Basics and Beyond
Quick Questionnaire
Who has heard of RSS?
Who reads RSS feeds?
Who creates RSS feeds?
Google “RSS”.
What does RSS stand for?
RSS Basics and Beyond
RSS Working Definition
RSS is a combination of:
1. Data Format RSS (0.93, 1.0, 2.0…) RDF Atom
2. Data Interchange• Syndication
RSS Basics and Beyond
Really Simple Syndication
Syndication is key element
It enables you to make your content available to anyone to use.NewsEventsBook listsStudy guidesEtc.
It puts you on par with the AP or Reuters
RSS Basics and Beyond
RSS is Nearly Everywhere!
RSS Basics and Beyond
Where Does RSS Come From?
Automatically GeneratedWeblog software (Movable Type, TypePad, Bloglines,
Wordpress, etc.)Content management systems (i.e., Wikis)
Using Perl, PHP, Ruby, etc.Create feeds from database searches
By HandIf you know HTML you can learn RSS
RSS Basics and Beyond
Finding Feeds
Look for icons on page
Look for icons in browser location bar
If you can find the link, you can use the content. Some conditions apply. See copyright holder for details.
RSS Basics and Beyond
Consuming RSS
All tools have common traitsAccess RSS FeedsTrack what a user has already readReproduce feed contentLink to original source
RSS Readers
Download and compare FeedDemon and FeedReader
Compare the readers above to the aggregators Bloglines and Google Reader
What is an aggregator?
RSS Basics and Beyond
Consuming RSS: Readers
PC-Based -- tied to a particular computer
Special ApplicationsFeedDemonFeedReaderNetNewsWire (for Macintosh)
Web BrowsersSafariIE7Firefox
RSS Basics and Beyond
Consuming RSS: Aggregators
Web-based
Access anywhere
ExamplesYahoo!BloglinesGoogle Reader
Even read off-line
RSS Basics and Beyond
Consuming RSS: Integration
RSS is just a stream of information
Easy to integrate into a web page
Many tools have ‘hooks’ to hang RSS on:Weblog softwareContent managementWiki software, etc., etc., etc.
But if you’re using good ol’ HTMLFeed2JSRSS2HTML
RSS Basics and Beyond
It’s This Easy
Go to http://feed2js.org
Click “Build”
Paste in a feed URL (www.loc.gov/rss/pao/news.xml)
Click “Generate JavaScript”
Copy 4 lines of HTML onto the page you want it to appear
del.icio.us
Go to http://del.icio.us/
What do you notice about the domain name?
What doe del.icio.us do?
RSS Basics and Beyond
Create “Live” Subject Guides
del.icio.us lets you ‘tag’ web sites
Create an account for your library
People tag web pages that make senseSales & MarketingManagementHuman Resources
As people find web sites that are interesting and fit a subject guide, tag them
RSS Basics and Beyond
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Every del.icio.us tag has an RSS Feed
Example: http://del.icio.us/rss/CityPublic_History
Put it in a ‘what’s new’ section on a subject guide -- with Feed2JS or other
RSS Basics and Beyond
del.icio.us result
RSS Basics and Beyond
Cambridge (Ontario)
RSS Basics and Beyond
Monitoring the Web
How do you know when a web page changes?New journal issue?New report from the county board?
Monitoring tools check sites for youGoogle Alerts watches topics
RSS Basics and Beyond
Roll Your Own RSS
Several ways to get an RSS feedWrite one by handSet up a (free) blogWrite a script yourself (if you have a Perl/PHP/Ruby
person)Use a service like FeedXS
RSS Basics and Beyond
Beyond the Basics
Mostly talked about existing services that you can leverage
Now turn to some more advanced topics Search = Feed Using RSS to get to your patrons where they “live”
RSS Basics and Beyond
Final Thoughts
RSS means simplicity of sharing content
Simple to create, simple to use
Great tool for putting your library “out there” where your patrons are
Flexible
Very low barrier to creation or consumption
