Pushing & Pulling Information Using RSS Feeds
Teri M. VogelLauc-B 2007 Conference
November 2, 2007http://tmvogel.googlepages.com/lauc-b
http://kosmar.de/wp-content/web20map.png
http://www.railsonwave.com/assets/2006/12/25/Web_2.0_Map.svg
http://www.informationarchitects.jp/ia-trendmap-2007v2
RSS within 2.0 Landscape• Notification – Syndication – Glue
Connects
Applications
http://web2.socialcomputingmagazine.com/rss_is_the_web_20_pipe.htm
What RSS is...What it does
• Way to keep up with new blog postings w/o 1) checking blogs over and over, or 2) using e-mail alerts. (2003-2004)
• Way to keep up with new/updated content on many websites (2.0 & otherwise) w/o checking.......and to repackage or redistribute that content for using elsewhere. (2007+)
RSS Feed Basics• aka feeds, web feeds, newsfeeds, etc.• specifications: 1.0, 2.0, ATOM...
– .xml, .rss, .rdf• Really Simple Syndication
• XML file that’s a syndication of website content– Site gets updated...file gets updated– XML – usually not read unaided
RSS Feed Basics
• No standard to identify RSS-enabled sites– Text, graphical cues– Autodiscovery: IE, Firefox, Safari
• To Read Feeds?? –RSS READER (AGGREGATOR)
YOU
Blogs
News Sites
Databases
E-Journals /E-Magazines
??????
Checking for Updates
E-Mail Alerting
Information Flow
http://RSS
Reader
Reader “pings” to check if feed (page/site) has been updated)
New feed content pulled back into reader
Titles | Dates | Links Authors | Content
YOU
Information Flow w/ RSS
You + RSS Reader
YOU• Select [subscribe] RSS
feeds• Read what you want,
– save, clip, e-mail items– organize feeds– de-select [unsubscribe]
feeds with a click
RSS READER• Checks website
[feed] for fresh content
• Pulls in new content– Title, date stamp, link
to full article– All-some-none of the
article – Readable, automated
Demo #1: Bloglines
PULL RSS Feeds - Bloglines
• Login• Copy feed (URL)• Click add/subscribe• Paste feed• Subscribe
Exercise #1: Bloglines
Demo #2: Google Reader
PULL RSS Feeds – Google Reader
• Click or or enter feed URL• Select subscription option (Google)
– Always use Google to subscribe to feeds
• or • Subscribed
Making Your Reader Public
• Bloglines URL– http://www.bloglines.com/public/tmvogel
• Google Reader– Shared items (public)– Share starred and/or tagged items
1. view public page2. add a clip to your site
Types of Readers
• Web– Bloglines, Netvibes, Google, My Yahoo
• Desktop– Feed Demon, NetNewsWire,
NewsGator/Outlook• Browser
– Safari– Firefox: Live Bookmarks, Sage– IE: Favorites
Demo #3: Netvibes
Exercise #2: Netvibes
RSS – Pull TechnologyAdvantages (KM)• Concentrates INFORMATION• Current awareness/alerting
– Customizable (“newspaper”)
• Saves time Challenges Need to use the information Don’t go overboard with feeds
Easier to Manage Information
Add More Feeds
Looking for RSS Feeds?
• Directories• Search engines
– General– RSS-specific
RSS in Web 2.0 Apps
• Blogs– Entries/comments– ‘Subscribe’ buttons– Feedburner
• Statistics
• Wikis– Updates
• Folksonomies– User or Tag
• Podcasts– RSS feeds w/ MP3s– Reader or iTunes
RSS + News
• Magazines• News: Print, TV, Radio, Wires• News Searches
– Google, Yahoo, Moreover
RSS + New Book Lists
• UCLA• Case Western• MIT• NC State
RSS & Databases
• PubMed• Ei Village 2 (Compendex, Inspec)• Web of Science• Gale• Ebsco• Astrophysics Data System• OvidSP
RSS & E-Journals
• Most Publishers– TOC and article-based
• Feeds by Topic (AIP)
• Dynamic Searches– Scitation (AIP, ASA, ASME, ASCE, ECS,
IET, SPIE)– Science Direct
PUSHING RSS Feeds
• R in RSS = remix, repackage, redistribute, repurpose
• Using RSS to display/push information from one website to another– Dynamically updated content
BLOG
RSS JavaScript
JavaScript
WEBPAGE
WEBPAGE with
HEADLINES
RSSJS
• Run RSS feed through RSSJS service; paste JavaScript block to website
• Feed2js• RSS-to-Javascript.com
• Widgets & Applications• LibraryThing• Netvibes• iGoogle
Converting RSS
Demo #4: Feed2JS
Exercise #3: Feed2JS or RSS-to-Javascript.com
• Yahoo Pipes– Aggregates multiple feeds into single feed
• Create your own feeds• Remix feeds & search engines, customize• private or publish
• Feedblendr.com– Aggregates multiple feeds into single feed
• Create your own feeds
Remixing Feeds
Demo #5: Yahoo Pipes
Exercise #4: Feedblendr.com
RSS within “3.0” Landscape
• A Web 3.0 Driver– “The transportable web”– User-defined aggregators– Mashups/widgetizing– Invisible and everywhere– Netvibes, iGoogle, Facebook, Yahoo Pipes