RSS Feeds What they are and what they do COMNET Meeting February 18th 20th, 2008 Education International Head Office, Brussels, Belgium
Overview Introduction Definition Technical details How to read RSS Stand-alone applications Web-based applications Integrated into browsers or mail-clients How to deploy RSS Stand-alone applications CMS-integrated solutions Feed aggregators RSS in union context Benefits and ideas
Definition RDF Site Summary/Really Simple Syndication Resource Description Framework (RDF), a W3C metadata model Based on XML (Extensible Markup Language) RSS evolved since 1995 into a variety of formats RSS 0.9 0.92, 2.0, Atom, OPML Wikipedia: RSS [ ] is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document, which is called a feed, web feed, or channel, contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favourite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually.
Code More information: http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/
Example I
Example I Details Variety of icons, but icon introduced by Firefox has de facto become standard Best practice to offer as many points of vantage for the user as possible, e.g. Browser address bar (by header meta tag) Menu items Designated areas on the site
Example II
Example II Details Modern browsers display RSS feeds formatted prettily in case user clicks on the link For older browsers (and in general), possibility to format feed using CSS, see e.g. http://interglacial.com/~sburke/stuff/ pretty_rss.html
How to read RSS? Stand-alone applications Feed Reader http://www.feedreader.com/ FeedDemon http://www.rss-verzeichnis.de/feeddemon/
How to read RSS? contd. Web-based applications Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/ Google Reader https://www.google.com/reader/
How to read RSS? contd. Integrated into browsers or mail-clients Mozilla Thunderbird http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/thunderbird/ Sage (Mozilla Firefox plugin) http://sage.mozdev.org/
How to read RSS? Example I
How to read RSS? Example II
How to deploy RSS? Stand alone applications ListGarden http://www.softwaregarden.com/products/listgarden/index.html SuperSimple RSS Generator http://ssrss.sourceforge.net/
How to deploy RSS? contd. CMS integrated solutions Wordpress Drupal http://www.wordpress.org/ Joomla http://www.drupal.org/ Typo3 http://www.joomla.org/ http://www.typo3.org/
RSS in union context Benefits and ideas General benefits of RSS feeds Paramount outreach at very low cost No special server requirements, no database required All software to read or generate RSS feeds I mentioned in this presentation is Open Source or Freeware Adding your feed to RSS directories such as Technorati, Blogrolls or FeedBurner dramatically increases high-yield backlinks and traffic Outstanding user friendliness User pulls information he wishes to get, does not get any unwanted messages pushed at him (as opposed to e.g. e-mail inbox) Ease of use, tailor-made, therefore more likely to stick Protection of privacy: no entry of e-mail address, easy to opt out
RSS in union context Benefits and ideas Benefits of RSS feeds to union work Enhanced outreach to members and stakeholders RSS offers yet another vantage point for information deployment to people interested in union work and topics Unlike email, which may get caught in spam filters, RSS can reach an interested audience quickly and effortlessly for urgent action (strikes etc.) Using RSS directories, more users can be driven to visit unions websites and made aware of topics and theses Syndication of news from other unions around the world helps members and stakeholders to understand the global outreach of union work and showcases global interaction and global networking
RSS feeds What they are and what they do Download this presentation here: http://data.ei-ie.org/common/getfile.asp?id=5278&mfd=off&logonname=guest Looking forward to your questions and suggestions now! Or contact me later: Timo Linsenmaier Professional Assistant, Web Communications Education International 5 Bd. du Roi Albert II B-1210 Brussels, Belgium Phone: +32-2-224.0625 Fax: +32-2-224.0606 e-mail: timo.linsenmaier@ei-ie.org