RSS Technology- A Tool to Expedite Up-To-date Information for Library Users - Anil Mishra

8/7/2019 RSS Technology- A Tool to Expedite Up-To-date Information for Library Users - Anil Mishra

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RSS Technology: A Tool to Expedite Up-to-

date Information For Library Users

Presented by

Anil Kumar MishraLib. Information Officer

E-mail: [email protected]

National Institute of Health

and Family Welfare3/28/11 11



y

Introductionv The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution and

the advent of the Internet has had drastic and far-reaching impacts on theknowledge and information sector and added a new dimension toinformation retrieval platforms.

v ICT has not only brought a change in the library and information services,but also on the roles of librarians and information professionals in theelectronic environment, where users are more focus on e-resources ascompare to print resources.

v Librarians need tools to:- To find the relevant, pin-pointed and up-to-date information quickly.- To provide the relevant information quickly.- To save the time of the user, who regularly use the web.

v

RSS technology is one of the tools that libraries can use to simplify theprocess of finding and providing information.

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Conceptv RSS: RSS is an acronym with several popular meanings: Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication or RDF

Site Summary. It is a piece of XML coding that allows users to set a preference, by subscribing, to automatically

receive content from a web feed (RSS feed) on a periodic basis, such as hourly, daily, or weekly, as well as allowingusers to create web feeds to which others may subscribe. Various version of RSS:

(i) RSS 0.90

(ii) RSS 0.91

(iii) RSS 0.92

(iv) RSS 0.93

(v) RSS 0.94

(vi) RSS 1.0

(vii) RSS 2.0

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Contd...v RSS Feeds: It is an XML document that contains some kind of content, such as

summaries of new stories, current weather data, weblog posts, or images. It canalso be used to exchange machine readable data such as numerical data sets. Manysites display a small icon in an orange button with the acronyms RSS, XML,ATOM or RDF (Resource Description Framework) to let you know a feed isavailable.

v RSS Reader: RSS Readers or Feed Readers or Aggregators display a list of subscriptions, with highlighting or another indicator of RSS feeds that have addedcontent since the user last logged in. Without having to go to all of the individualwebsites, users can quickly and easily access new materials from sites that interestthem through RSS readers. There are two types of aggregators:

(i) Desktop Aggregators: AmphetaDesk, FeedReader, FeedDemon,NewsGator, RSSOWL, NetNewsWire, Omea Reader, etc.

(ii) Web based Aggregators: Google Reader, My Yahoo, Bloglines, NetVibes,Pageflakes, FeedScout, NewsIsFree, etc.

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Contd...

v XML: XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. XML was designed to

attach semantic to data i.e. adding context to the data. For example:<?xml version=”1.0” encoding=”UTF-8” ?><book><title>Prolegomena to Library Classification</title><author><f_name>Ranganathan</f_name><l_name>S.R.</l_name></author>

<edition>3rd reprint</edition><place>Bangalore</place><publisher>Sarada Ranganathan Endowment</publisher><physical_desc>640 p.</physical_desc></book>

The example shows the structure of a document, which describes a book,titled Prolegomena to Library Classification. The book has a title, author, edition,place, publisher, physical description elements. Author is further divided into firstname (f_name) and last name (l_name). Inside these tags the actual data is stored.These tags provide context to the whole structure of the document, hence these areknown as semantic tags.

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Contd...

Thus, RSS technology is an efficient way to track what is new from selected websites, blogs,databases and news services. The feed readers (used for to collect, organise and display all the feeds)pull together new information from all your feeds in one handy place, saving your e-mail box frombeing flooded with alerts.

Publisher: Push out information in a standard format from one source tomany readers.

Feed Reader: Pull in information in a standard format from many sources into onelocation.

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Publisher (Creates Content)

Feed(Content in a standard

format)

FeedReader

(Receives Content)



What does RSS do?

Publisher can send to many readers from just one source.

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BlogNewsPost

Title



Contd...Reader can receive from many sources.

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Feeds



Old Days (Before RSS Technology)

Click to edit Master text stylesSecond level● Third level● Fourth level● Fifth level

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Feed

Reader

Less number of Mouse (Feed) to

eat (Read)



Today (After RSS Technology)


3/28/11 10Many Mice (Feeds) to



Components of RSS

v The item information includes item title, item description and URLlink to item. There are two important tags, i.e. <Channel> and<Items> used to describe a feed and its items.

v Channel Tag: Required elements for channel tag are title, link,description and item. Typical optional channel elements arelanguage, rights, publisher, creator, source, type, updatePeriod,updateFrequency, updateBase.

v Item Tag: Required elements for item tag are title, link anddescription. Typical Optional elements for item tags are language,source, rights, date, type and issued.

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Steps to Create and Promote the RSS Feedv To create feeds using desktop software, FeedForAll is a good example. It allows

users to quickly and easily create, edit and publish RSS feeds. It has a built inwizard that makes feed creation very easy. Steps to create the RSS feeds are:

Step 1: Enter the title of your RSS feed.Step 2: Enter the description of your RSS feed.Step 3: Enter the link of your RSS feed.Step 4: Enter the title of the item.

Step 5: Enter the summary of the item.Step 6: Enter the link of the item.Step 7: Additional information, including images can be added to RSS feeds

to enhance them.Once a feed is created, we have number of options to promote the feed:

v Transfer the feed onto the Server.v Display the feed on the Website using a graphic of some sort.v Include information in the HTML of the webpage so RSS Readers auto-detect the

feed.

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Step 1: Enter the Title of your RSS Feed.

Click to edit Master text stylesSecond level●

Third level● Fourth level● Fifth level

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Step 2: Enter the Description of your RSS

Feed.


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Step 3: Enter the Link of Your RSS Feed.


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Step 4: Enter the Title of the Item.

Click to edit Master text stylesSecond level●

Third level● Fourth level● Fifth level

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Step 5: Enter the Summary of the Item.


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Step 6: Enter the Link of the Item.


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Back Next Cancel



Step 7: Additional Information

Click to edit Master text stylesSecond level● Third level●

Fourth level● Fifth level

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Steps in Using RSSv To read the feeds, we need RSS Reader. Following steps are required to use RSS:

Step 1: Need an RSS Reader.

Step 2: Need sources that we want to keep up with, such as blogs, forums, newswebsites, etc.

Step 3: Find the RSS icon on the page from which we want updates.

Step 4: Click on RSS icon on the blog (or whatever) we want to follow.

Step 5: Copy the RSS feed URL.

Step 6: Paste the feed URL in our Reader.

Step 7: Start reading.

For example, we show how to do it through Google Reader:

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Step 1: Open the Google Reader.


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Step 2: Write your E-mail, Password and Sign

in.Click to edit Master text stylesSecond level● Third level● Fourth level● Fifth level

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Step 3: No Feed for Read.Click to edit Master text stylesSecond level● Third level● Fourth level● Fifth level

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Step 4: Open the Site and Click the RSS

ButtonClick to edit Master text stylesSecond level● Third level● Fourth level● Fifth level

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Step5: Copy the RSS Feed URLClick to edit Master text stylesSecond level● Third level● Fourth level● Fifth level

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Step 6: Click on Add a Subscription and Pasteit.



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Step 8:You also Manage the Feeds.



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BlogClick to edit Master text styles

Second level● Third level● Fourth level● Fifth level

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DatabaseClick to edit Master text styles


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NewsClick to edit Master text styles


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Application of RSS In Library Servicesv Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI)

v Current Awareness Service (CAS)

v Bibliographic Service

v Bulletin Board Service

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Pros of RSSv RSS feeds are timely because subscribers get updates and breaking news as

soon as they are available.

v RSS feeds are cost effective because distribution and delivery costs arevery low.

v RSS works well within an e-mail. An e-mail client is not only view the

feeds but they can also be received and categorized automatically.v There is no need to send one’s e-mail address anywhere to subscribe to an

RSS feed, therefore, privacy is assured.

v Spam like publishing is not impossible.

v

Annoying feeds can be cancelled with only a few keystrokes. No‘unsubscribe’ e-mail needs to be sent.

v RSS feeds help you save time by scoping the content that you receive toyour specific interests and ensuring that the information is always up-to-date.

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Cons of RSSv RSS feeds provide no history, which means that you always get the newest

information; you can easily miss an article of interest to you, if you don’tcheck the feeds for a few days.

v RSS feeds are a bandwidth waster because they automatically downloadRSS files (usually hourly) to check for updates and changes.

v RSS feeds are complicated to set up. As people hear about RSS andunderstand its value, they also become disappointed by the fact that it is notan easy as surfing the web.

v RSS content doesn’t lend itself to search. Many search engines include RSSfeeds but they struggle to identity which information is new and hence,greatly limit the value of search operations on this type of content.

v RSS feeds usually only show an abridged version of the contents, which canbe cryptic and may require you to open your web browser to see the fulltitle.

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Conclusionv New technologies are creating new opportunities for libraries. CD-

ROM databases-which not so long ago were the latest thing-havenow transitioned into growing online databases. Even as theInternet creates new opportunities for the library, it may alsobecome a rival to library systems.

v Libraries must follow new technologies very closely and theadvantages of the newest innovations, such as RSS feeds, must bereflected in library services. If this is not done voluntarily, thisintegration will be forced overtime.

v Thus, librarians and libraries should exploit this technology to

effectively promote the content they produce and help their users toselect appropriate feeds. And also use this technology to keep themup-to-date in this era of information explosion.

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Thank you

Twitter: anilkmishra

RSS Technology- A Tool to Expedite Up-To-date Information for Library Users - Anil Mishra

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