1. Practical RSS for Collecting and Disseminating New Content Nick Tomaiuolo, CCSU Library Connecticut Library Association 114 th Annual Conference April 12, 2005

2. The whole idea of RSS is to go from this

3. To this …..

4. 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.

5. What is RSS ? Corollary: It is a method you can use to deliver content to others.

6. How does RSS work ? And what is needed so I can use it ?

7. How does RSS work ? RSS files, which could also be written as XML files or RDF files, are written so they can be read by an Aggregator.

8. 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).

9. What is required? Item Title Summary Link to a page

10. What is needed so I can use 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.

11. The RSS Aggregator Newspaper analogy Selected “feed” Today’s new “items” Selected “item” preview

12. Next “feed” Next “feeds” “items” Selected “item” preview

13. Another aggregator (Newsgator)

14. An alternative interface

18. Subscription RSS Aggregator

19. FeedDemon ($$$) “Watch Channel”

20. Choosing an Aggregator? Consider: Display Options “Portability” Find Aggregators at: The News Aggregator’s Directory http://www.hebig.org/blogs/ archives/main/000877.php Or Blogspace http://blogspace.com/rss/readers

22. Finding Content Sources built in by the aggregator “Well known sites” “Drive by” content Searching for content – Syndic8 – Daypop – NewsIsFree – Yahoo!

23. “Built in” content from the aggregator

24. Lists of feeds at known sites w.moreover.com/categories/category_list_rss.html (Moreover)

25. Feeds at the NYTimes

26. Yahoo! Feed list (partial) Choose feeds Search for feeds by keywords

27. What am I supposed to do with this?

29. “Drive By” You’re on a page with one of those RSS buttons …..

34. I forgot, what am I supposed to do when I see this?

35. I forgot, what am I supposed to do when I see this? a) Click the button

36. b) Copy the resulting file location from your browser’s address bar

37. c) Paste the location into your RSS Aggregator’s “Add” or “Subscribe to” form.

40. Searching for feeds (and searching in feeds) www.syndic8.com (Syndic8) www.syndic8.com www.newsisfree.com (NewsIsFree) www.newsisfree.com www.feedster.com (Feedster) www.feedster.com www.daypop.com (Daypop) www.daypop.com Some RSS Aggregators offer feed searches

41. www.faganfinder.com/blogs

42. NEWSGATORFEEDSEARCHNEWSGATORFEEDSEARCH

43. Syndic8

44. Library news LISnews.com

45. Uses of RSS Feeds in Libraries Journal TOCs New Books Library Events Workshop schedules “Friends” news Statistics

49. Gerry McKiernan: examples of RSS in libraries http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/RSS.htm

50. Writing an XML file Not overly difficult …. Refer to “Making an RSS Feed” by Danny Sullivan (SearchEngineWatch) at http://searchenginewatch.com/ sereport/article.php/2175271

51. What is required? Item Title Summary Link to a page

52. 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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55. To view this presentation again on the Web, go to: http://www.ccsu.edu/library/tomaiuolon/nickcla5.htm