practical rss for collecting and disseminating new content
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Practical RSS for Collecting and Disseminating New Content. Nick Tomaiuolo, CCSU Library Connecticut Library Association 114 th Annual Conference April 12, 2005. The whole idea of RSS is to go from this. To this …. What is RSS ?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Practical RSS for Collecting and Disseminating New Content
Nick Tomaiuolo, CCSU LibraryConnecticut Library Association114th Annual Conference April 12, 2005
“Must -- stay -- informed…”
NYTG. Price:Resource
Shelf
LibraryGrants
LocalNews
Open AccessNews
ResearchBuzz
FavoriteBlog
Chron.HigherEd
WiredHubMed
“oddly enough”
Yahoo!Enter-
tainment
TheatreNews
The whole idea of RSS is to go from this
To this …..
“Will stay informed…on my terms”
NYTG. Price:Resource
Shelf
LibraryGrants
LocalNews
Open AccessNews
ResearchBuzz
FavoriteBlog
Chron. HigherEd
WiredHubMed
“oddlyenough”
YahooEnter-
tainment
TheatreNews
RSS Reader
What is RSS ?
• A method by which content is delivered to you, the end-user, without constantly needing to search for it.
• Obviates continual manual site visits to monitor new content.
What is RSS ?
• Corollary:It is a method you can use to deliver content to others.
How does RSS work ?
And what is needed so I canuse it ?
How does RSS work ?
RSS files, which could alsobe written as XML files orRDF files, are writtenso they can be read byan Aggregator.
RSS is SIMPLE• Really Simple
Syndication• Rich Site Summary• RDF Site Summary
• It really doesn’t matter to us anyway; RSS is a list of items
• Each item contains a title, summary, and a link to a URL (e.g. a web page).
What is required?ItemTitle
SummaryLink to a page
What is needed so I canuse it ?1)You need to locate
content that is syndicated.
2)You need to use an RSS Aggregator (aka RSS Reader) to view the syndicated content.
The RSS Aggregator
• Newspaper analogy
Selected “feed”
Today’s new “items”
Selected “item”preview
Next “feed”
Next “feeds” “items”Selected “item”
preview
Another aggregator (Newsgator)
An alternative interface
Subscription RSS Aggregator
FeedDemon ($$$) “Watch Channel”
Choosing an Aggregator? Consider:
• Display• Options• “Portability”• Find Aggregators at: The News Aggregator’s Directoryhttp://www.hebig.org/blogs/archives/main/000877.phpOr Blogspacehttp://blogspace.com/rss/readers
Finding Content• Sources built in by
the aggregator• “Well known sites”• “Drive by” content• Searching for content
– Syndic8– Daypop– NewsIsFree– Yahoo!
“Built in” content from the aggregator
Lists of feeds at known sitesw.moreover.com/categories/
category_list_rss.html (Moreover)
Feeds at the NYTimes
Yahoo! Feed list (partial)
Choosefeeds
Search for feedsby keywords
What am I supposed to do with this?
“Drive By”
You’re on a page with one of those RSS buttons …..
I forgot, what am I supposed to do when I see this?
I forgot, what am I supposed to do when I see this?
a) Click the button
b) Copy the resulting file
location from yourbrowser’s address bar
c) Paste the locationinto your
RSS Aggregator’s“Add” or
“Subscribe to”form.
Searching for feeds (and searching in feeds)• www.syndic8.com
(Syndic8)• www.newsisfree.com
(NewsIsFree)• www.feedster.com
(Feedster)• www.daypop.com
(Daypop)• Some RSS Aggregators
offer feed searches
ww
w.fa
ganf
inde
r.com
/blo
gs
NEWSGATOR
FEED
SEARCH
Syndic8
Library news LISnews.com
Uses of RSS Feeds in Libraries• Journal TOCs• New Books• Library Events• Workshop schedules• “Friends” news• Statistics
Gerry McKiernan: examples of RSS in libraries
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/RSS.htm
Writing an XML file
• Not overly difficult ….• Refer to “Making an RSS Feed” by Danny Sullivan
(SearchEngineWatch) athttp://searchenginewatch.com/
sereport/article.php/2175271
What is required?ItemTitle
SummaryLink to a page
Try your XML file in your favorite aggregators• Copy someone else’s file and
edit it to your criteria (in Notepad; save as filename.xml). (filetype *.txt)
• Make sure it links to your content.
• Save it on your web server.• Perform maintenance as
needed.
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To view this presentation again on the Web, go to:
http://www.ccsu.edu/library/tomaiuolon/nickcla5.htm