REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION

Web 2.0 Concepts and Trends Taylor Perrin, Technical Communication December 2008

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION

INDEX
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION
PROBLEM STATEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a transforming internet technology that allows users to receive updated web content such as blogs, news, and other information through a standardized process. As this technology continues to expand and advance, its many uses are becoming more popular in the personal, professional, and even educational environments. There are many benets from introducing this Web 2.0 technology into the classroom setting. The Technical Communication (TCO) department at Mercer University should consider the implementation of RSS Feeds into their curriculum to assist faculty and students in the process of gaining new knowledge and remaining at the top of their eld.

BACKGROUND
HISTORY QUICK FACTS DIFFERENCES FEED AGGREGATORS HOW THEY WORK

SOLUTION
BENEFITS

RECOMMENDATIONS
IMPLEMENTATION SOFTWARE AND RESOURCES ONLINE AGGREGATORS DESKTOP AGGREGATORS FEEDS

CONCLUSION WORKS CITED

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION

RSS FEEDS MAKE IT EASY FOR USERS TO SUBSCRIBE TO SPECIFIC CONTENT OVER THE INTERNET AND THEN AGGREGATE THAT INFORMATION INTO ONE CONVENIENT LOCATION.

INTRODUCTION
News and technology are two things that are constantly on the move in todays society. With the evolution of Web 2.0 concepts and trends, it makes it possible to stay current with these ever-changing issues. Really Simple Syndication is a process that allows users to streamline their online experience in a way that helps them simplify and organize their viewing needs. RSS Feeds make it easy for users to subscribe to specic content over the internet and then aggregate that information into one convenient location. It allows users to keep track of large amounts of web-based content without having to manually visit each site individually. Through the use of RSS Feeds, content will immediately be delivered to the subscriber when any additions or updates have been made. This push technology is one of the most accommodating, time-saving internet innovations to arise over the past few years. This form of technology pushes" web content to the user rather than waiting until the user requests it. It is a way for users to access information that they are interested in and read it on their own time.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Websites are getting smarter and more advanced by the day and most popular websites are now making their content available for syndication. Because of this, more and more users are becoming familiar with the use of RSS Feeds as a way to stay current with changing trends and technologies. This is an opportunity for the Technical Communication department at Mercer University to join this growing community of RSS users and to develop new knowledge about this Web 2.0 technology. In return, it will allow the TCO department and its students to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies related to their eld.

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BACKGROUND
HISTORY
The rst version of the RSS format was created in 1999 and was originally created for the Netscape browser. Today, RSS 2.0 is the valid form of syndication. There have been six other versions before then and three name changes. The original name was RDF Site Summary, which later was changed to Rich Site Summary, and then nally to Really Simple Syndication. The biggest dierence between past versions and the current version that is seen today is the use of XML (Extensible Markup Language) coding in the script, which makes the product as a whole easier to use.

THE ORIGINAL NAME WAS RDF SITE SUMMARY, WHICH LATER WAS CHANGED TO RICH SITE SUMMARY, AND THEN FINALLY TO REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION.

QUICK FACTS
According to a 2005 report by Pew Internet & American Life, only 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get news and other time-sensitive information. Although RSS formats have evolved since 1999, the RSS icon rst gained widespread use between 2005 and 2006. RSS formats are specied using XML, a generic specication for the creation of data formats. A standardized XML le format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many dierent programs. Subscribing to and reading RSS feeds is usually free, though some desktop products charge a small download or installation fee.

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SOMEONE PUBLISHES NEW OR CHANGED INFORMATION; THE RSS FILE IS CREATED, EITHER MANUALLY OR AUTOMATICALLY; AND ONCE THE RSS FILE IS FINISHED, IT IS DISTRIBUTED TO SYNDICATION SERVERS.

DIFFERENCES
There are many forms of technology out there that are very popular that provide its users with updated content and news. For many years, people have used email, fax, voice mail, and newsletters as forms of notication. RSS is dierent from these other technologies because it is based on XML. It noties users who want to know when information has changed whereas with these other methods, users can receive unwanted or delayed materials. The diagram below shows how RSS works, using blogs as an example. The general concepts apply to any updated information: Someone publishes new or changed information; the RSS is created, either manually or automatically; and once the RSS le is nished, it is distributed to syndication servers.

Blog System ex. Wordpress, Blogger.

Post to Blog

Once upon a time, I wrote a blog post...

Updates

HTML

PUBLISH

Joe Blogger

RSS (machine readable website syndication le)

Search Engines like Google, Feedster, Technorati, PubSub, etc.

3 4

Which sites have updated? HIGHER search engine rank

Aggregation Ping Server ex. weblogs.com

RSS Reader ex. Google Reader, FeedDemon

6
Techie Teresa

Faster information FLOW

NEW STUFF

from sites chosen by Teresa Automatic NO manual sur ng

Once/hourly

Joe Surfer

Normal web browser (Manual sur ng and searching)

Figure 1 How Blogs Work in 7 Easy Pieces from Managing Virtual Teams.

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION FEED AGGREGATORS

Feed aggregators (also called Feed/News/RSS Readers) are either online applications or desktop software that collects a users syndicated material and holds them in one central location. It creates a personal informational workspace that retrieves all new or updated content from the users subscribed websites. Feed aggregators are known for reducing the time and eort it takes to individually view these websites regularly and search for new information. Online feed aggregators lets users subscribe to their favorite websites and keep track of them through a web browser. This means that they can sit down at any online computer, login to their account, and quickly view updated material. The trade-o, when compared with desktop software, is that online feed aggregators generally do not have a notication window that tells users when new information is available. This is perfect for the avid feed user who needs to check updated content often. Some desktop software feed aggregators are designed to resemble email inboxes such as Microsoft Outlook. They will have various folders for new and read feeds that help users with organization. These desktop software aggregators retrieve the feeds directly to a users computer and saves the information to an archive le. Unlike online feed aggregators, users can only view the information from that single computer with the installed software.

FEED AGGREGATORS CREATE A PERSONAL INFORMATIONAL WORKSPACE THAT RETRIEVES ALL NEW OR UPDATED CONTENT FROM THE USERS SUBSCRIBED WEBSITES.

Settings and Preferences Folders or Categories Feeds of Similar Interest

Reading Panel List of Feed Subscriptions

Advertisements, Recommendations, Tips & Tricks, General News, Etc.

Figure 2 Basic layout of a typical feed aggregator.

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION HOW THEY WORK

Step 1: Get a feed aggregator. User needs to decide whether an online feed aggregator or desktop software will suit their needs best. If it is an online aggregator, then the user needs to set up a personal account with username and password. This way, they can login to their aggregator from any location. If the aggregator is desktop software, then the user needs to download and install the software as directed by the company. Step 2: Subscribe to RSS Feeds. There are multiple ways this can be done. On many websites, blogs, and podcast, there will be an area, usually at the bottom of the page, where a user can setup the RSS Feed. Sometimes there will be text that says RSS or XML, but more commonly there will be a little orange square icon with a white dot and two curved lines. This has become the universal icon for RSS Feeds. By clicking on any one of those options, the site should be redirected to a page that asks for the users preferred feed aggregator. Click on the desired aggregator of choice and it will automatically send that feed to the aggregator for future reading. If it is an online aggregator, login may be required before this process is complete. Another option for obtaining feeds is just as simple. Depending on the feed aggregator, there should be an option to add new feeds. This should open a URL box that allows users to cut and paste a websites address for feed submission. Sometimes, users can also subscribe to a feed by dragging the URL of a website into the aggregator by using a drop and drag method. Step 3: Read and Enjoy. Subscriptions to feeds can be added or removed from an aggregator at anytime. You can also organize feeds by grouping them in related categories. There are other customizable options that allow the aggregator to only show new and updated feeds or users can go back and read archived material. In most situations, there is a mark all as read button that will mark all items of a feed as being read by the user. This is convenient if feeds start to pile up or material is not interesting.

SUBSCRIPTIONS TO FEEDS CAN BE ADDED OR REMOVED FROM AN AGGREGATOR AT ANYTIME.

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SOLUTION
The TCO department can greatly benet from the use of RSS Feeds as an educational tool. It is a simple and enjoyable method that would allow students and faculty to staying current with TCO related news and information. It is an amazing form of communication between publisher and subscriber that allows each to participate at their own desired time. Because the department and its courses are so heavily dependent on the current technologies and trends of the times, this would be a great way to assure that everything was being done to stay on the cutting edge. Professors would have the ability to use these new trends and ideas in their curriculum and students would get to implement them into their work and projects. Anything to do with technology these days can be found on the internet through blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc. These are the current trends that many companies and individuals are using to share their wealth of knowledge with the world. As these methods are being used to exchange ideas among the public, they will only continue to grow in popularity and soon could transform the way everyone communicates all together. This is why it would be benecial for the TCO department to take advantage of these Web 2.0 technologies while they are still at a fairly early stage of development. This would allow the department to learn with them and from them to greater enhance the educational environment.

RSS FEEDS ARE AN AMAZING FORM OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PUBLISHER AND SUBSCRIBER THAT ALLOWS EACH TO PARTICIPATE AT THEIR OWN DESIRED TIME.

BENEFITS
Users can choose content of interest. They can control the total ow of information that they receive. The content is pushed to users automatically whenever information is added or changed. Feed aggregators allow all content to ow into one central location for simple and organized reading. RSS is a secure channel that cannot be spammed.

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BY USING RSS FEEDS, STUDENTS IN RETURN COULD LEARN NEW KNOWLEDGE, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, STAY CURRENT WITH NEW TRENDS AND INFORMATION OCCURING IN THE WORLD.

RECOMMENDATIONS
IMPLEMENTATION
The TCO department should incorporate RSS Feeds into their daily curriculum for all courses. They could choose a preferred online feed aggregator that all students would become accustom to and use for their reading. Students at the beginning of each semester could create an online account with this feed aggregator so they could access it from both their personal computers and the department computers used in class. The professors could email each student an .opml le which is used to exchange lists of RSS Feeds between aggregators. That way, the professors could provide students with an initial list of feeds to read and observe throughout the semester. Students could then add or remove feeds on their account as necessary. The homepage on all TCO computers could be changed to display the preferred feed aggregator login screen. This would act as a reminder for student to view their feeds and could be a productive way they could spend their time before class start. Professors could also allow ve to ten minutes at the beginning of class for everyone to look over the new feeds for the day. Professors could also occasionally hold discussions over new topics in the feeds or create assignments from the readings. By making the students participate in the use of RSS Feeds, they could then learn about this technology and its many benets. This would hopefully ignite a desire for the students to use feeds more often and in their own time outside of class. Some of the biggest problems with RSS Feeds are that people do not know what they are, how they work, or why they are important. If these matters are addressed through the TCO department and dispersed throughout its students, then this knowledge could spread to the entire campus. And by using these RSS Feeds, students in return can learn new knowledge, and most importantly, stay current with new trends and information occurring in the world.

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION SUGGESTED SOFTWARE AND RESOURCES

Below is a list of some of the popular feed aggregators on the market today, both online and desktop software. Also, there are suggestions of various TCO related feeds that could be benecial to the department.

ONLINE AGGREGATORS
Google Reader: Google Reader shows you all of your favorite sites in one convenient place. It's like a personalized inbox for the entire web. You can access your Google Reader account from any computer with online access. Whether you're at home, at work or abroad, your subscriptions stay with you. (www.reader.google.com)

GOOGLE READER AND NEWSGATOR ARE TWO OF THE MOST POPULAR ONLINE FEED AGGREGATORS. THEY BOTH PROVIDE SIMPLE INTERFACES WITH EASY NAVIGATION AND ORGANIZATION OF FEEDS.

NewsGator: Manage your news the way you want. Group feeds in folders and read everything in a river-of-news. Or just read one feed at a time. Play video right inside your reader, or clip podcasts to download with single click. (www.newsgator.com)

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Additional online aggregators include BlogLines (www.bloglines.com), FastLadder (www.fastladder.com), and NewsKnowledge (www.newsknowledge.com).

FEEDDEMON IS THE MOST POPULAR WINDOWS DESKTOP SOFTWARE AGGREGATOR. ITS KNOWN FOR ITS EASE OF USE AND CREATIVE GROUPING OF FEEDS.

DESKTOP SOFTWARE
FeedDemon: Subscribe to feeds from all over the web or choose some of the dozens of default feeds. Search outside of FeedDemon's subscriptions by selecting a feed search engine, then enter your keyword, and FeedDemon will subscribe to a dynamic channel containing the search results for that keyword. (www.feeddemon.com)

Awasu: Oers tons of features for enterprise or personal use. The personal edition is free and for the advanced and professional editions a fee must be paid. Awasu will monitor any site that provides RSS Feeds and will automatically connect you to new ones. (www.awasu.com)

Additional desktop software aggregators include SharpReader (www.sharpreader.com), BlogBridge (www.blogbridge.com), and RSS Bandit (www.rssbandit.org).

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION FEEDS

A List Apart: Provides feeds that explore the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices (www.alistapart.com). CSS Beauty: A showcase for web designers' work and acts as a portal to the CSS design community (www.cssbeauty.com). Design Reviver: Provides useful tutorials, free downloads, sources of inspiration, and articles covering a wide range of web design related topics (www.designreviver.com). Information Aesthetics: Explores the symbiotic relationship between creative design and the eld of information visualization (www.infosthetics.com). Instructional Design - EServer TC Library: A directory of resources about instructional design in the eld of technical communication (http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Instructional-Design). Society for Technical Communication: An individual membership organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication (www.stc.org). Usability News: Web Usability News - for all the latest news in usability and human-computer interaction (www.usabilitynews.com). Web 2.0 Show: Podcast about emerging technologies that focuses on interviewing the developers and entrepreneurs who are creating the next generation of web services and media delivery (www.web20show.com/episodes).

THIS LIST OF FEEDS COULD PROVIDE A GOOD STARTING POINT FOR FACULTY AND STUDENTS. THESE FEEDS COULD BE ADDED TO AN .OPML FILE WHICH IS USED TO EXCHANGE LISTS OF RSS FEEDS BETWEEN AGGREGATORS.

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RSS FEEDS CAN TRULY BE A TRANSFORMING WAY STUDENTS AND FACULTY LEARN AND INTERACT BETWEEN ONE ANOTHER.

CONCLUSION
The RSS Feed is a rapidly growing phenomenon that is quickly transforming the internet and the way users access information. If the TCO department applies this new trend that is becoming ever so popular, then they will have the opportunity to immediately reap its benets. It can truly be a transforming way students and faculty learn and interact between one another. This Web 2.0 technology would allow the department to stay on the top of its eld and act as a catalyst for other professors and students at Mercer University.

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION

WORKS CITED
1. RSS. (2008, December 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:45, November 20, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RSS&oldid=255328689 2. Fox, Susannah, Janna Quitney, and Anderson L. Rainie. The Future of the Internet. Rep.No. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Washington, DC, 2005. 3. Brown, M. Katherine, Brenda Huettner, and Char James-Tanny. Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools. Grand Rapids: Wordware, Incorporated, 2006. 4. Ward, Joel A. "RSS Feeds: Sweating the Really Simple Stu." Toxicologic Pathology 35 (2007): 846-847. 5. Turner, Adam. "RSS Lifelines; Road Tests." The Age. 16 Nov. 2008 <http://www.lexisnexis.com>. 6. Saltzman, Marc. "RSS 101: Let the Web surf to you; It nds stu you like and delivers it to you." The Gazette. 16 Nov. 2008 <http://www.lexisnexis.com>. 7. Richardson, Will. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin P, 2006. 8. Johnson, Dave, and Simon Phipps. RSS and Atom in Action : Web 2. 0 Building Blocks. Boston: Manning Publications Company, 2006.