using really simple syndication (rss) to publish content

Using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to Publish Content

Andrea Mostyn, University Communications, Assistant DirectorMoby Thomas, University Communications GAJohn McMellen, KSMU, Senior Broadcast EngineerDavid Porter, KSMU GA

Most common applications of RSS in academic settings Media relations/press releases Events/calendars Employment vacancies Libraries/recently catalogued materials Prospective student blogs College/department updates To see examples, google “rss” and

“university”

Campus applications of RSS

Broadcast Services – KSMU University Communication

Introduction to RSS

What is RSS and where did it come from? What type of information benefits from the

“pull” method of RSS? How is it used?

Technical details of typical implementations

3 different ways to get there Free, but manual and labor intensive

(i.e. Notepad and some web server space) Medium cost, easier

(i.e. Dreamweaver and some web server space) Expensive, very simple and automated

(i.e. sophisticated Content Management System) Server requirements Client requirements and setup

Broadcast Services - KSMU

Expensive method – Content Management System handles input and dynamically generates Web and RSS output

RSS also used to generate “podcasts” Requires setup, training, and maintenance

Broadcast Services - KSMU

Links from the home page to the generated feed

Using XSL stylesheets, browsers can convert the RSS to formatted HTML

<LINK> tag in home page header makes auto discovery of feeds possible

With XSL stylesheets, go from this…

…To this

University CommunicationsRSS version 2.0<?xml version="1.0" ?> <rss version="2.0"> <channel> <title>Missouri State University News</title> <description>The office of university communications at Missouri State University is

your connection to the university community. </description> <link>http://www.news.missouristate.edu</link> <item>

<title>Feb 24, 2006 - University debate team receives first ever first-round id</title> <description>The Missouri State University debate team will compete at the National

Debate Tournament, and this time the team was invited with a first-round at-large bid Michael Mapes and Matthias Bostick are guaranteed the chance to debate at nationals.</description>

<link>http://www.news.missouristate.edu/news/releases/feb06/debateteam.htm</link> </item> <item> <title>Feb 24, 2006 - Festival brings movie industry experts to Springfield</title> <description>Missouri State University, in association with the Moxie Theatre, the Creamery Arts Center and Drury University, will host the inaugural

Show-Me Missouri International Film Festival March 2-5. </description><link>http://www.news.missouristate.edu/news/releases/feb06/festival.htm</link>

</item> </channel></rss>

University Communications Editor: Macromedia Dreamweaver

University CommunicationsValidate the Code

University CommunicationsHome Page

University CommunicationsWhat is RSS?

University CommunicationsBrowser View of XML file

University CommunicationsReader View of XML file

How will people view my RSS content?

Many use an RSS reader or “aggregator”

This is a special kind of software for viewing news feeds provided by websites.

You can download for free or use a pay version

It is a simple program that lets you pick up news websites all over the Internet. Any news site that displays the or can be quickly loaded into your personal reader.

It will bring all the news you want without any of the problems associated with email and is usually spam-free.

RSS Reader

The reader continuously updates news from all of the selected sources you've chosen.

You can keep some news sources right on the front page, order them any way you wish and keep others in a library in the background.

The reader can be customized to display headlines; headlines and story leads; or headlines, story leads and graphics.

When you visit any website that displays or to pick up the news stream, merely click on the link, copy it to your reader and the news from that source immediately begins streaming through your reader. That news then updates whenever you refresh the page.

Types of Readers

Portals E.g., My Yahoo ,My MSN, My AOL ,Personalized Google Homepage

Web-based E.g., Bloglines, Google Reader

Desktop based E.g., Feed Demon, NetNewsWire, Straw

Outlook based E.g., NewsGator, IntraVnews

How other institutions use RSS

Gustavus University http://www.gustavus.edu/xml/index.cfm Alumni, athletics, employment, news, parents Includes user-friendly introduction to RSS Allows users to subscribe to all feeds or to any of

30+ individual feeds


University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School

http://adcomblog.wharton.upenn.edu/ Admissions blog Helps prospective students prepare to apply to

business school Alerts blog users to new content Users may subscribe to specific categories

What are some other uses of RSS?

Multimedia delivery Works In Progress

Microsoft SSE – “Really Simple Sharing”Google Base – Online database of lists of

items Messaging and application synchronizationGoogle Calendar – Event exchange

Questions?

using really simple syndication (rss) to publish content

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