RSS and Libraries

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RSS and Libraries

• Michael Hunter
• Reference Librarian
• Hobart and William Smith Colleges
• for Rochester Regional Library Council
• Member Libraries Staff
• Sponsored by the Rochester Regional Library
  Council
• Supported by Library Services and Technology Act
  (LSTA) and/or
• Regional Bibliographic Databases and Resources
  Sharing (RBDB) funds granted by the
• New York State Library 2006

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For Today . . .

• RSS De-mystified
• Readers and Aggregators
• Structure of RSS and Atom Feeds
• Libraries and RSS
• Audio files via RSS - Podcasts
• Linklist at http//people.hws.edu/hunter/librss.ht
  m

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RSS

• Rich Site Summaries
• Really Simple Syndication
• Really Stops Spam

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Before RSSTracking latest news and site updates

• Software packages that monitored and reported
  changes at sites of your choosing
• News alert services, free and fee
• Manual checking of your bookmarks
• Hit or miss Listserv and Usenet postings

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Using RSS . . .

• Web authors can summarize new content, present it
  in compact, low bandwidth form and provide links
  to the full content
• No more flipping through your bookmarks and
  scanning sites to see whats new
• Using RSS aggregators, multiple sources (RSS
  feeds) of your choosing can be combined into one
  interface. You can specify how often to revisit
  the sources

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RSS What is it?

• A broadcast version of current content from a
  website, blog, news page or other source (aka
  RSS Feed)
• A live, constantly updated table of contents with
  links to the full text, eg. a feed from
  NYTimes.com

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How do I access RSS feeds?

• Sites with RSS feeds display a small icon
  (usually orange) labeled RSS or XML
• Formatted in XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
• May require downloading reader software (older
  versions of browsers cannot read XML). Sources
  for reader software include
• www.download.com (search rss reader)
• Aggregators allow for reading and organizing
  feeds of your choosing

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Toward Structuring Information More Uniformly XML

• A metalanguage through which content can be
  exchanged across multiple formats and
  applications
• ltfacilitates multi-channel distributiongt
• Using XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language), a
  single document can be sent as e-mail, web page,
  web TV, wireless content and more
• XML also allows us to create our own tags, even
  unique ones, within the syntax of XML.

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Confused ???

• XML is not comparable to HTML
• HTML is designed as a means to display content on
  browsers and provide linkage capability
• XML is a metalanguage that operates above the
  level of html, ie, an xml document may be
  translated into html, but is not limited to
  that format

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RSS A look in detail

• RSS is a dialect of XML
• Required elements
• ltrssgt version of RSS the feed is in
• NOTE Additional information about the feeds XML
  environment may also be present
• ltchannelgt information about the channel
  (metadata) and its contents

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RSS A look in detail

• Channel required sub-elements
• title The name of the channel. This is the URL
  of the website, if the contents of the RSS feed
  are identical to that website
• link The website from which the channel
  originates
• description Phrase or sentence describing the
  channel

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RSS A look in detail

• ltitemgt A channel may contain any number of items
• lttitlegt Title of the item
• Content may be the full text OR
• ltdescriptiongt summary of the item
• ltlinkgt pointing to the full text

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Atom Really Similar Syndication

• (Another) recently developed XML-based
  syndication format
• Similar to RSS, but addresses some quirks and
  ambiguities of RSS
• Offers more detailed documentation
• Atom 0.3 at http//www.mnot.net/drafts/draft-notti
  ngham-atom-format-02.html
• Atom-to-RSS convertor available at 2rss.com (free)

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OPMLOutline Processor Markup Language

• A file format used to exchange subscription
  lists between programs that read RSS files (such
  as feed readers and aggregators) regardless of
  operating system or environment
• See http//www.opml.org

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RSSCrossing into the Mainstream

• What feeds are people using?
• (in order of popularity)
• World news
• National news
• Entertainment
• Science and technology
• Weather
• Local news
• http//publisher.yahoo.com/rss/RSS_WhitePaper1004.
  pdf

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RSS History

• December, 1997
• scriptingNews format designed by Dave Winer
• March, 1999
• RSS 0.90 designed by Netscape as a content
  management tool for personalizing home pages in
  my.netscape.com
• 2000 and on- Rapid growth and popularity of blogs
  fuels increase in RSS feeds and aggregators
• RSS 0.9x and 2.x are the most popular versions

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RSS Readers/Aggregators

• RSS desktop aggregators (fee-based)
• Amphetadesk http//www.sourceforge.net
• Feedreader http//www.feedreader.com
• Others available at http//radio.userland.com
• Free, browser-based reader (no download needed
  must create an account)
• http//newsisfree.com
• NOTE Always choose an aggregator that allows you
  to add any feed you choose, not just those
  available via the aggregator
• Most aggregators allow users to save searches and
  automatically re-run these, sometimes hourly

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RSS at Googlewww.google.com/reader

• Requires setting up a (free) account
• Subscribe to any feed of your choosing
• Keyword search available for feeds in Googles
  database
• RSS feeds available for Google News
• Folders (labels) available for grouping feeds of
  similar content
• Sort feed items by date and relevance

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Finding and Searching RSS Feeds
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How do I access RSS feeds?

• RSS Subject Directories
• RSS Search Engines
• General Search Engines
• Subject Metasites
• Other Quality Websites and Weblogs

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RSS Subject Directoriessyndic8.com

• Covers over 71,000 syndicated news sites
• Strong in North American regional feeds
• Categories taken from Open Directory (dmoz)
• Searches for terms in feed names, site names and
  URLs
• Default search is Boolean OR (!!!)
• No phrase search capability
• Filters include language, date, status
• Aggregator available as subscription service

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RSS Subject Directoriesnewsisfree.com

• Covers feeds from over 12,000 news and
  topic-focused sites
• Excellent categories rich in topical feeds
• Free online aggregator
• In Find More Sources lists of feeds by
• date, feed name and language
• Fee based Premium personalization

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RSS Search EnginesA reminder

• NOTE RSS Search engines index individual Blog or
  RSS posts you must often backtrack from the
  search result(s) to find the URL of the actual
  RSS feed

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RSS Search Enginesfeedster.com

• One of the oldest blog and rss engines
• Indexes posts from over 800,000 syndicated
  sources and adds 5,000 new feeds daily
• Results include source, length and time of
  publication
• Results may be sorted by relevance or date
• Phrase search enabled (quotes)
• Advanced search allows limiting by URL

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RSS Search Enginesdaypop.com

• A current events search engine
• Indexes posts from over 59,000 news sites,
  weblogs and RSS feeds
• Major media sites crawled every 3 hours others
  every 24 hours
• Phrase search enabled (quotes)
• Boolean NOT enabled (minus)

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RSS Search Enginesdaypop.com

• Search limits
• News Weblogs Language Date
• RSS Headlines RSS Weblog Posts
• Top 40 40 most linked-to blog and rss posts
  in the database
• Word Bursts - Words that have received a
  heightened usage in the past couple days
• Top News Bursts Bursty words from front
  pages of newspapers

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General Search Engines

• Yahoo News offers a large selection of RSS feeds
• Google indexes individual posts on a limited
  basis
• Search syntax
• keyword(s) filetypexml
• keyword(s) filetyperss
• Use other general engines that allow searching by
  file extension (Hotbot et. al.)

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Subject Metasites

• Check metasites for online newsletters or other
  current awareness programs that offer an RSS
  feed they are on the rise
• Professional organizations homepages often offer
  an RSS feed
• Governmental organizations are beginning to offer
  RSS as well

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Libraries and RSS
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Libraries and RSS

• Show your users
• What RSS is and what it can do for them
• How to find feeds of interest
• How to find and use RSS Readers and Aggregators
• Best done by offering an RSS guide page
• Generate your own feeds about the librarys
  latest holdings and other news

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Libraries and RSSPublic/School

• Develop and/or monitor listings of RSS feeds
  covering up-to-the-second
• Local interests Whats been published about our
  town/area this week? Whats on about town?
• Topic-focused feeds
• Sports news
• Financial news
• Job listings

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Libraries and RSSAcademic/Corporate

• Develop and/or monitor listings of RSS feeds
  covering up-to-the-second
• Specific research areas or topics
• Political climate and events
• News coverage from foreign countries
• Explore possibilities of journal contents via RSS

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RSS at the National Cancer Institute Current
Clips Supplement

• Users did not access important RSS feeds pointed
  to from the Library page
• Obstacles to using Readers/Aggregators-Installatio
  n and learning curve
• Current awareness services already being
  delivered at NCI via e-mail

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NCIs Current Clips Supplement

• Records created in the OPAC for the URL of each
  RSS newsfeed selected
• Most recent contents of the feed parsed into HTML
  and placed in the Notes field of the OPAC record
• RSS feeds visited several times daily and
  contents of Notes field updated
• Each weekday subscribers receive an e-mail of
  article titles from selected RSS feeds with links
  to the full text

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NCIs Current Clips Supplement

• Open Source RSS-to-email utilities
• Perl FetchRss
• www.lathi.net/twiki-bin/view/Main/FetchRss
• Java fetchrss
• fetchrss.dev.java.net
• Python rss2email
• www.aaronsw.com/2002/rss2email
• More information at
• www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA428129

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Blogs and RSS

• Blogs may offer some or all of their content as
  RSS feeds, or not
• Blogs can exist as pure html documents, updated
  frequently
• Making content available in RSS increases a
  blogs access and exposure via aggregators and
  other RSS-based search services
• Blog Subject Directories and Blog Search Engines
  can lead you to RSS feeds of interest

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Libraries and RSS

• Spreading the word at Dartmouth
• http//www.dartmouth.edu/krescook/collections/Kre
  sgeNewAcquisitions.php
• Georgia State University Library
• http//www.library.gsu.edu/news/index.asp
• Subject Guides from Kansas City PL
• www.kclibrary.org/guides
• Journals and RSS
• www.biomedcentral.com

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Libraries and RSS

• Specialized services
• www.medscape.com
• Bibliography on Libraries and RSS
• www.public.iastate.edu/CYBERSTACKS/GenBib.htm

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Generating your own RSS Feed

• Online RSS editors
• Created from data filled in via an html form
• U. of Bath rssxpress http//rssxpress.ukoln.ac.uk
  /
• RSS from HTML (Scraping)
• Scraping programs attempt to automatically
  identify items suitable for RSS syndication by
  analysis of the markup language
• Tend to be of lower quality than human-edited
  feeds

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Generating your own RSS Feed

• RSS created by professional Content Management
  Systems as a service
• RSS generated from a database
• From a MySQL database
• www.lowendmac.com/tech/php16.html
• Using ASP on an MS Access database
• www.purplepages.ie/site/articles/article.asp?faq
  6fldAuto76
• Like all XML, RSS must be validated to be
  successfully accepted by readers/aggregators

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Audio via RSSPodcasts
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Podcasts 101iPod broadcast podcast

• Downloadable audio or video files which can be
  played on many devices
• PC, home systems Mobile (iPods, cars, MP3)
• Broadcast by means of RSS
• Not limited to Apples iPod or MP3 format
• Often embedded in weblogs with RSS feeds
• As with any Living Web (RSS) content podcasts
  can go offline may or may not be archived

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Podcasts 101

• Development
• Ease of publication (cheap storage, MP3 format)
• Ease of subscription (RSS 2.0)
• Ease of use (iPod, other mobile audio devices)
• Create files (audio parameters apply!)
• Publish files
• From iTunes.com
• From any web site capable of supplying content
  via RSS (Most blogs do)

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Podcasts 101

• Subscribe to files via the URL for the RSS
  Podcast feed (Red RSS or XML button)
• Podcatcher Freeware that receives and organizes
  podcasts (an RSS aggregator for podcasts).
• Available at podcatcher.rubyforge.org

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Podcasts in Higher Education

• Drexel (Chemistry)
• Lectures podcasted class time used for problem
  solving
• Duke (Computer Science)
• Students required to listen to podcasts on
  related topics not covered in class
• U. of Hawaii (Computer Science)
• Intro class of 600 lectures podcasted
• Listen to them when you have the time

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Podcasting and Search

• Many podcasts are embedded in blogs
• Google blog search tool
• blogsearch.google.com
• (subject) podcast
• Main Google search still text-based
• rock filetypemp3 117 on 4/28/06
• Blog-based search engine with media search
  www.blogdigger.com/media/

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Podcasting and SearchPodcast Directories and
Catalogs

• www.podcast.net
• Directory of over 15,000 podcast feeds
• Searchable by Title Description, KW, Host
  (Author), Location and Episode
• www.odeo.com
• Searchable catalog of mp3 podcasts
• Updates every 3 hours
• Offers text snippet of the latest podcast from
  each feed
• www.podcastdirectory.com
• www.podfeed.net
• http//dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Podc
  asts/

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Podcast SubscriptionsFrom Feedburner 12/4/05

• Diggnation w/Kevin Rose Alex Albrecht (31247)
• Photoshop TV (15915)
• English as a Second Language Podcast (10486)
• IT Conversations (8969)
• TOEFL Podcast (5526)
• Bruce Springsteen Born To Run 30th Anniversary
  Podcast (5378)
• Digital Photography Tips From The Top
  Floor (4308)
• The Secrets of Harry Potter (2832)
• Next Big Hit (2614)
• EarthCore - A Podcast Novel (2536)

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RSS The pros . . .

• Can be used as a way to distribute content to
  subscribers (syndication) independent of e-mail.
  Subscribers logon or access via aggregators.
• RSS is fully re-useable across a range of
  applications and channels
• RSS is secure as yet, do not carry viruses
• RSS adds value to a website
• RSS is controllable ie, subscription-based
• RSS can lead to Deep Web content otherwise
  inaccessible

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RSS and Search

• RSS documents could be searched by elements of
  the pre-defined tags
• Allows for finer searching beyond title or full
  text, eg. ltchannelgt and ltitemgt elements
• Real Estate Listings
• Price Location Features
• Effective searching in any XML environment
  requires some degree of standardization and
  promotion of that standardization
• But who will grind the corn..?

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RSS the cons . . .

• Requires readers and/or aggregators
• Limited formatting options
• Image locations cannot be specified
• Typographic choices limited
• Limits editorial options
• Cannot showcase or prioritize feed content
• Offers no reply button
• RSS is a bandwidth hog
• Aggregators frequent visits to a site can hinder
  other traffic

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The Living WebWhat can blogs and RSS feeds tell
us about an authors point of view?

• Which ones does an author list on their
  blog/homepage?
• Which ones does an author visit/subscribe to?
• Sometimes I want to know what the world thinks
• GOOGLE
• Sometimes I want to know what I think
• MY WEBLOG
• Sometimes I want to know what those I respect
  think
• BLOGS AND FEEDS I READ

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RSS and the Semantic Webas envisioned by Tim
Berners-Lee

• GOAL To increase data and information processing
  across repositories that use different ways of
  organizing and structuring that data
• How? By creating and maintaining a common set of
  terms that are used universally to describe and
  represent objects on the Web
• RSS tags may be a beginning

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Thank You andHave fun with RSS!!!
Michael Hunter Reference Librarian Hobart and
William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY 14456 (315)
781-3552 hunter_at_hws.edu