the what, why, and how of rss
TRANSCRIPT
Prof. Burks Oakley IIAssociate Vice President for Academic AffairsDirector, University of Illinois OnlineProfessor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of IllinoisJanuary 2006
The What, Why, and How of RSS
Really Simple Syndication RSS - Really Simple Syndication An RSS file is a small text file that provides a
concise summary of the content of a web page
The RSS file is revised every time the web page is updated
RSS is used for information dissemination - requires very little bandwidth
RSS written in XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
Definition of RSS [More than you want to know] RSS is
a family of XML file formats for Web syndication used by news websites and weblogs. The abbreviation is used to refer to the following standards:– Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91) – Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29
Definition of RSS The technology of RSS allows Internet
users to subscribe to websites that have provided RSS feeds; these are typically sites that change or add content regularly.
Unlike subscriptions to many printed newspapers and magazines, most RSS subscriptions are free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29
RSS – The Essentials Essential elements of an RSS file
– Title – Link (hyperlink)– Description
RSS enables users to create customized sources of information
Users “subscribe” to an RSS “feed” (The transmission or conveyance of a local radio or television program, as by satellite, on the Internet, or by broadcast over a network of stations.)
Example of RSS Feeds
NY Times Homepage - RSS<rss version="2.0"><title> NYT > Home Page </title><link> http://www.nytimes.com/index.html
</link><description>New York Times > Breaking News, World News
& Multimedia</description><lastBuildDate> Mon, 12 Dec 2005 05:05:00
EST </lastBuildDate><copyright> Copyright 2005 The New York
Times Company </copyright><language> en-us </language>
…
RSS News Feeds – Health NY Times, Washington Post, USA
Today, Miami Herald, BBC News
http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/rss/health/index.xml http://www.usatoday.com/repurposing/HealthRss.xml http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/health/rss.xml http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_world_edition/health/
rss.xml
RSS Feed Aggregators Desktop software (stand-alone)
– SharpReader– FeedReader– Wikipedia listing
Web-based – My Yahoo! – NewsIsFree.com– Wikipedia listing
RSS Feeds for Health
Refresh Rate
Distribution via RSS Other information can be distributed by
RSS– Web logs – “blogs”– Digital photo collections, such as Flickr– Audio blogs – “podcasts”– Social bookmarking sites, such as
Del.icio.us
Podcast: http://burkso2.blogspot.com/http://burkso2.blogspot.com/2005/11/delicious-social-bookmarking.html
Subscribe to RSS Feed RSS feed for a blog
Subscribe to RSS Feed RSS feed for a digital photo collection http://www.flickr.com/
Subscribe to RSS Feed RSS feed for a social bookmarking site http://del.icio.us/judell/
Blogs
Digital Photo Collections
Audio Blogs - Podcasts
RSS – Del.icio.us bookmarks
Things you can do with RSS News syndication Search for information via RSS Aggregate your feeds Display news on your website Display news on your mobile device Collect all your email in RSS Get RSS content through your email Track Fedex packages discount air fares Bargains at Ebay Get stock updates Get the weather reports What people are saying about you, your c
ompany, your products
Music, radio shows, TV clips Stay updated on someone's schedule Get cinema schedule updates Read your favourite comics What other people are surfing Automatically backup your weblog posts Get software updates Get the latest bittorrent files and p*** Shopping deals at Amazon.com
and others
What your friends and family would like for Christmas
Be notified of traffic conditions Be notified of updates in police and fire d
epartment logs
Web metrics Virus and security alerts Events and happenings in your city Gaming statistics Search for jobs Easing government bureaucracy Create your own news aggregator page Keep track of your notes Find recent photos taken near you Build maps Make Tag Clouds All those sites without RSS Become a comment blogger Patent Searching Keep your acquaintances updated with y
our latest contact details
Ditch Your Girlfriend Print Your Feeds
http://www.timyang.com/wiki/doku.php?id=lists:thingsyoucandowithrss
http://www.rsscalendar.com/rss/
Web Display of RSS Feeds Web display of syndicated content via
RSS Online Learning Update
– Portland Community College – Academic Commons– U of I Online
Web Display of RSS Feeds
Web Display of RSS Feeds
Web Display of RSS Feeds
RSS to JavaScript Dynamic Pages
– http://www.rss-to-javascript.com
RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 [More than you want to know] People
who generate syndication feeds have a choice of feed formats. As of mid-2005, the two most popular formats are RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0.
Blogger.com (owned by Google) uses Atom 1.0.
Feedburner.com can convert Atom 1.0 feeds to RSS 2.0 feeds (this is a free service).
RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 Many “RSS” feed aggregators, such as
SharpReader and MyYahoo!, can “read” both RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0.
My Yahoo! supports RSS 0.90, 0.91, 0.92, 1.0, and 2.0 and Atom 1.0.
An (Optional) Assignment Create an account at Yahoo! (if you
don’t have one already). Download and install a free, stand-alone
feed aggregator, such as SharpReader. Subscribe to at least one news feed
and one blog feed using MyYahoo! (web-based) and the stand-alone feed reader.
The What, Why, and How of RSS
Burks Oakley IIweb: http://www.online.uillinois.edu/oakley/e-mail: [email protected]
Submit questions to Rob Reilly: [email protected]
This work is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution – NonCommercial - ShareAlike 2.5 License.