Web Syndication &
Podcasts
Presented by:Jordan Adler
Andrew Schumacher
Syndication (In General)
• Television/Radio– Right to broadcast shows to multiple stations
without going through a broadcast network– “Local affiliates”
• Print– News articles, columns, and comic strips
made available to newspapers and magazines
• What’s the theme?
Web Syndication
• General Definition:– A section of website is made for use by other
websites
• Realistic Definition:– “web feeds” from a site to provide others with
a summary of recently added content
History of Successful Web Syndication
• Beginning Year: 2001
• Publisher: Miniclip (online gaming website)
• Use: Syndicated browser based interactive games
Uses of Web Syndication
• Media Outlets (Newspapers/TV websites)– Publish “Latest News Headlines”
• Commercial Websites– Publish “New Product Offerings”
• Bloggers– Publish “Latest Blogs”
Benefits of Web Syndication
• Benefits to both the providing and receiving websites– Receiver: More information = more attractive
to users– Provider: Exposure across many websites
• Online Marketers– Use Personal feeds instead of email
lists/newsletters
How does Web Syndication work?
• “Web Syndication” is a news feed– Transported through:
• HTML• Javascript• XML (more common)
– Formats:• RSS (Really Simple Syndication, RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary)• Atom
– Read By:• RSS Reader• Other webpages• http://www.springwidgets.com/widgetize/23/?param=http://rss.cnn.com/rss/
cnn_topstories• Web Tool that helps you import RSS feeds onto your webpage
RSS
• People keep updated with their website in an automated way– RSS reader/feed/aggregator– Many available on the web
• Subscribing to a feed:– Manually enter in feed’s link– Clicking on this icon:
• Reader checks for updates periodically (based on default settings or user input time)
RSS Readerhttp://www.rssreader.com/
RSS Advisory Board
• Maintain/publish RSS specification and answer questions about format– Mozilla Firefox started using this:– Internet Explorer/Outlook, Opera followed– The orange RSS square can be considered
an “industry standard”
RSS/Syndication Examples
• http://www.navy.mil/podcast/podcast.asp
• http://www.cnn.com/
• http://www.forbes.com/markets/index.xml
• It’s Everywhere!!!!
Making RSS (Code)
<rss version="2.0"><channel> <title>Xul</title> <link>http://www.xul.fr/</link> <description></description> <item> </item> </channel></rss>
Bare Minimums:
Additional Tags (optional):•<language>, <docs>, <webMaster>, <pubDate>, <image>
•<docs> document that specifies format of the file
Making RSS (Code 2)
<item> <title>Xul news</title> <link>http://www.xul.fr/en-xml-RSS.html</link> <description>... some text... </description> </item>
Item Bare Minimums:
Item Additional Tags (optional):•<pubDate>, <guid>, <category>
•<guid> string of characters unique to item (like an ID in JS)
RSS Example
• http://www.m080060.it452.cs.usna.edu/RSS/
• Note the RSS symbol on the top right of Mozilla Firefox Browser
RSS Example (Code 1) - HTML<!-- Header Code goes above here -- ><html xmlns = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head> <title>RSS Example</title>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://www.m080060.it452.cs.usna.edu/RSS/getTimes.xml" title="RSS Get Times"/>
</head>
<body> <h1> RSS Example </h1> <p> Click this image: <a href="http://www.m080060.it452.cs.usna.edu/RSS/getTimes.xml"> <img src="rss.jpg" width="50" height="50" alt="RSS"/> </a> to get the RSS feed. </p><!– More HTML/JS/code goes below here -- >
RSS Example (Code 2) – RSS/XML
<?xml version="1.0" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel> <title>Running Updates</title> <link>http://www.m080060.it452.cs.usna.edu/RSS/</link> <description>Provides users with running updates from the Chicago Marathon</description>
<image> <url>http://www.m080060.it452.cs.usna.edu/RSS/runner.bmp</url>
<link>http://www.m080060.it452.cs.usna.edu/RSS/getTimes.xml</link> </image> <item><title>Runner #1</title><link>http://www.m080060.it452.cs.usna.edu/RSS/runner.php?id=1</link>
<description>Runner #1's time</description></item>
<!-- MORE ITEMS GO HERE --></channel> </rss>
Podcasts
• Definition– Digital media file distributed over the internet using
syndication feeds for playback on portable media players or computers
– Podcasting– Podcaster – author of podcast
• Podcasts: syndicated, subscribed to, downloaded automatically when new content is added (via RSS/Atom)
• iPod – 1st portable media player to accept podcasts via podcasting scripts
How Podcasting Works
• 1. User creates a media file• 2. User uploads file to some webserver (file can
be accessed by public)• 3. User modifies RSS/Atom/XML document by
adding an “item” which contains the file information
• 4. Subscriber’s feed is notified that there is an update via a periodic check (how often is setup by the user or default programmed value)
• 5. File can be downloaded to computer or portable media device
Social Podcasting
• When more than one author inserts their own content into a podcast
Civilian/Military Importance of Podcasts/Feeds
• Why do YOU think podcasting is or isn’t important?
Make Your Own Podcast
• See supplemental paper.
Works Cited
• Wikipedia– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_syndication– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_syndication– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_syndication– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasts– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_podcasting
• RSS Creation– http://www.xul.fr/en-xml-rss.html
• RSS Reader– http://www.rssreader.com