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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
RSS: Let's Clear The Confusion And Start Using!
Brian KellyUK Web FocusUKOLNUniversity of [email protected]
UKOLN is supported by:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2005/sessions/kelly-b/
SummaryRSS is great – let's use itLearning Outcomes:• Gain understanding of potential for RSS• Be aware of the confusions over RSS
terminology• Understand different approaches for
creating RSS• Seen examples of RSS viewers• Be able to make recommendations on
local use of RSS• Be aware of quality assurance issues
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Contents • Introduction• The Need For Better Ways of Disseminating News• A Simple Lightweight Solution – RSS• RSS Viewing Tools• Exercise 1: Uses in your Institution• RSS Creation Tools• Beyond News - Exploiting RSS's Potential• Exercise 2: Authoring in your Institution• The Caveats (technical issues, content issues, …)• Futures• Exercise 3: RSS & Your Newsletter / RSS & Trust• Conclusions
Intr
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audience's interests and experience
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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About Me Brian Kelly:
• UK Web Focus – a Web advisory post for UK HE and FE and cultural heritage communities
• Involved in Web work since January 1993, when helped set up UK HE's first (?) institutional Web service at Leeds University
• JISC representative on W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)
• Based at UKOLN – a national centre of expertise in digital information management
• Funding by JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council)
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tion
Ran "Automated News Feeds" session at IWMW 2001 in Belfast
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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About YouWhat do you do?
• Techie, software developer, …• Information specialist• Manager, policy makers, …
What do you know about news feeds, RSS, …?• Knows what RSS stands for?• Read RSS feeds• Publish RSS feeds:
Using simple tools Advanced developer (have read specs,
developed RSS software, …)• What's RSS?
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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What Do You What To Gain?What do you want to gain from the session?
What topics would you like to be addressed?
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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What Do We Want To Do?We provide quality information services and we want all to have rich access to services & know about them.So we:
• Enhance service• Run mailing lists• Contribute to mailing list• Run events• Publish newsletters• Provide Web sites• Ask others to include
news on their Web sites,newsletters, email lists, …
• ….
But:• In what ways?• Too much information,
too much spam• Not everyone attends• Not everyone reads• Not everyone reads• Time-consuming to
process• Limited user choice
What we would like to do is minimise human bottlenecks in processing 3rd party context for use on Web and email, whilst allowing users more flexibility in handling information overload
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Let’s Kill Email!Email:
• We’re all familiar with it• We all use it (even when away at conferences)
But:• Why send messages which time-out when many
users will read them too late?• Why not use delivery channels which are spam-free? • Why not use delivery channels which are more suited
to receiving information (as opposed to discussions)?• Why not use a solution which provides richer
structure/metadata• Why not allow users to select their preferred
channels?• Why not allow users greater customisation (e.g. don’t
deliver information when I’m on holiday)
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Initial AttemptsInitial attempts at richer solutions e.g. BBC News:
• Solutions included:• Scrolling Tickertape news display on your PC• JavaScript to pull news items to your Web site• Subscriptions to email alerts
• Content often generated from single source• User has choice: chose content; no tickertape
displayed when away; suspend email; …
There was a clear need for an open solution, which would allow use of standard authoring tools and viewers by any news provider
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But:• Accessibility problems (JavaScript dependency, ..) • Proprietary• Everyone else needs to replicate software, …• No benefit of scale through standard solutions
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RSS – A Universal Solution RSS:
• Initially developed as syndication tool for My.Netscape portal
• Potential for this lightweight solution quickly recognised
• Blogging software integrated RSS feeds
• Many RSS readers and authoring tools developed
• RSS becomes part of JISC's Information Environment (IE)
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RSS ViewersLots of different ways of reading RSS news feeds, which allows user to select preferred approach:
• Web page• Tickertape• Pop-up alerts• Bookmark interfaces• Email (email-style) interface • …
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RSS AggregatorsAn RSS aggregator:
• Brings together RSS news feeds from various sources
• We've seen desktop & Web aggregators designed for use by individuals (my favourite services, my weather report, my stocks and shares, …)
A server-based RSS aggregator:• Allows service provider to aggregate news feeds for
its communities • Feeds for student on a particular course• Feeds related to a funding body
We will now see the JISC RSS Aggregator, designed to provide easy access to news from JISC services and facilitate sharing and community building across the JISC community
View
ing
RSS
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The JISC RSS AggregatorJISC RSS Aggregator:
• Single point of access to news from JISC services
• Efficient (limited management needed centrally)
• Well-designed, attractive interface
• Developed by EEVLIs this needed in institutions?
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/jiscnews/
This software is available from EEVL (or see alternatives )
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Group Exercise 1Now that you've seen an overview of RSS:
• List areas in which RSS could be used within your organisation
• List areas in which your organisation would wish to receive news feeds provided by others
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Issues Arising From DiscussionAreas in which RSS could be used within your organisation
• Addressing workflow issues• Evaluating & deploying technologies• User issues• …
Areas in which your organisation would wish to receive news feeds provided by others
• Persuading them• Reliance on third parties (can we trust them)• …
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RSS File FormatRSS is a powerful, lightweight format. How do you create RSS news feeds?
Cre
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g R
SS
RSS Channels<channel><title>BBC News | UK | UK Edition</title><link>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/uk/default.stm</link><description>BBC UK News updated every minute of every day</description></channel>
RSS News Items<item><title>Tony Blair quits over Iraq</title><description>Tony Blair quits the cabinet, accusing George W Bush of breaking promises over UN's role in rebuilding Iraq.</description><link>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/uk_politics/3019871.stm</link></item>
NOTE: Trust is an important aspect of news feeds – is the supplier of news embedded in your Web pages, providing accurate information – the above news is not true!
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RSS Authoring ToolsMany ways of creating RSS files:
• By hand (don't!)• Dedicated RSS tools• Web-based tools• Blogs (see SOSIG)• Generation of RSS
and HTML from database
• Transformation of HTML RSS (or vice versa)
• Externally-hosted value-added service providers e.g. Feedburner
• …
Cre
atin
g R
SS
http://www.sosig.ac.uk/news/
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RSSxpressRSSxpress:
• Combined RSS viewer, editor, directory and validator
• Developed at UKOLN
• Widely used for creating RSS files
http://rssxpress.ukoln.ac.uk/C
reat
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RSS
Note: UKOLN planning updates & new RSS tools. Suggestions welcome.
Similar tool: RSS Configurator - <http://www.prs-ltsn.ac.uk/rss/rssconfig.html>
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Publishing Your RSS Feed When publishing your RSS feed:
• Save file at stable location on Web servere.g. <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/rss/ukoln.xml>
• Validate file (please!) e.g. using RSSxpress interface, etc. (Broken news is bad news!)
• Ensure Web administrator gives correct MIME type for .xml, .rss, … file
• Include <LINK> in your HTML news page so that tools like FireFox dynamic bookmark can be used (see later)
• For completely new feed register at RSSxpress, JISC Aggregator, Syndic8, etc.
• View feed in various types of RSS viewers
Cre
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g R
SS
Validators available at <http://librdf.org/rss/>, <http://feeds.archive.org/validator/>, etc.
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Viewing RSS Feeds (1)RSS may be used in ways you have not considered:
• Search results• Email• …
If you include a <LINK> tag, users can automatically add a dynamic bookmark to Firefox
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Viewing RSS Feeds (2)An example of an email interface to an RSS file:
• This shows Thunderbird open source email client
• Similar software (but licensed) available for MS Outlook
• User can chose whether to view Web page or just text
• This has been described as “authenticated spam-free opt-in email”
Note that with some RSS tool the user can choose to view text-only. Great for the user – but should you worry about your logo not being displayed?
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Viewing RSS Feeds (3)"If you've got a late-model wireless device and want to try accessing your favorite syndicated content on-the-go, give FeedBurner's Feed Reader (MFR) a test drive:
• Supports feeds in all major formats (RSS, RDF, and Atom)
• Smart "If-Modified-Since" content retrieval conserves wireless bandwidth
• …Other examples of viewers for PDAs:
• Plucker• Hand/RSS for Palm• See <http://palmtops.about.com/
cs/productreviews/tp/Palm_RSS.htm>
Note this is intended as a illustration and is not a product endorsement! The software has not been tested and it is not known if it complies with appropriate standards.
View
ing
RSS
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How is RSS Being Used?IoP provide RSS feeds for:
• Events• Features• Jobs• Latest papers • news• Press releases• …
http://syndication.iop.org/?cat
Use
s O
f RSS
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What The Libraries Are DoingMany libraries, especially in the US, are taking a similar high profile approach to RSS
http://www.hclib.org/pub/search/XML/LibnNotes/GetXML.cfm?Topic=Consumer%20Information&Display=Consumer%20Information
Note that the URL of the RSS file shows it is being generated by a Cold Fusion script
Use
s O
f RSS
Issue: How persistent is this feed likely to be?
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RSS - User IssuesSome issues to think about:
• RSS is great, but what RSS tool / model should we provide for our users?
• RSS file has been described as 'the programmers undergarments". How do we ensure users know what to do with an RSS file: View it Copy URL and paste into
RSS viewer Draft and drop into RSS
viewer
Native XML file view
Styled XML file – but where's the navigation?Is there a need for tips in the link to the RSS file?
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What Else Can You Do? (1)What else can RSS be used for?Syndication:
• You have content you want others to include in their Web site (e.g. IWMW 2005 conference details)
Alerts:• Alerts of new search results, items in eBay, ….
Tracking:• You want users to be able to track progress of their
items (currently available for Parcel tracking; how about book order; fault reports; …)
Personalised Interfaces:• Weather from weather service; stocks & shares; ….
Replacing E-Mail:• …
Use
s O
f RSS
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What Else Can You Do? (2)Email:
• You can read your GMail email using an RSS viewer
• Lsoft now provide RSS for their email archives e.g. JISCMail archives (and thoughts on differences?)
Awasu RSS reader has free plugin for reading email
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What Else Can You Do? (3)Search Amazon:
• Third parties services can be used to generate RSS results for Amazon searches
• See:<http://www.oxus.net/amazon/><http://www.watchcow.net/news/2004/10/full-frontal-firefox-integration.php>
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What Else Can You Do? (4)Search Amazon:Third parties services can be used to generate RSS results for price changes on Amazon
http://www.watchcow.net/
Further info
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Exercise 2Now you have seen the range of possibilities for RSS and the different approaches to creating RSS files:
• Discuss the authoring models you feel may be applicable within your organisation
• Outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the approaches
• List other potential barriers to effective use of RSS
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Exercise 2 - DiscussionAuthoring models / Advantages and disadvantages
• By hand or dedicated editors Simple Prone to errors, data re-entered & not repurposed
• From backend database / CMS Repurposed existing data May be included as standard
• Conversion Repurposed existing data Which way: RSS XHTML or vice versa (pros & cons)
Potential barriers to effective use of RSS• Inertia?• Lack of interest to end users? (supplier-driven?)• …
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Content Issues• Accuracy, relevance, timeliness, … of content• Display of content (don't make assumptions)• Context of content (e.g. MLA news from UKOLN)
Quality IssuesTechnical Issues
• Important to validate RSS file• Incorrect syntax / characters
may or may not be displayed• Be aware of non-standard
characters (e.g. £, —, ©, ...)• Note that special characters
(e.g. < and >) may cause problems
• Avoid clever tricks – keep to standard (may work in some cases but not others
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/onestepjobs/
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Architectural IssuesWe need to think about:
• Technical architecture for creating RSS• Architecture for processing RSS (ourselves,
partners and 3rd parties)• RSS Design:
How many items Removal of old items Finding old items
• Support issues: Developers Content creators Users
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Case Study – QA Focus (1)QA Focus:
• JISC-funded project• Developed a QA
framework, 80 briefing papers, …
As part of exit strategy :• Documents available
with CC licence• RSS feed to enable
3rd parties to embed details (syndication)
• Documented QA• OPML file
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/rss/
User can select groups of RSS files to add to RSS reader
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Case Study – QA Focus (2)The approach (similar to IWMW feeds):
• RSS and OPML files created by hand • Tried using 3rd party XHTML RSS, but
didn't work• No time (expertise) for simple backend
scripting• Files validated and viewed by RSS viewer• Policies documents – subtext is you can
trust us
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What Does RSS Stand For?RSS naming and versions can be very confusingC
avea
ts
RSS 0.9Developed by Netscape to allow 3rd party content to be embedded in My.Netscape portal
RSS=Rich Site Summary
Issues• Which to go for? (JISC IE uses RSS 1.0)• Really Simple Syndication is probably the best abbreviation
(RSS 1.0 abbreviation is recursive and confusing)
RSS 1.0RSS=RDF Site Summary
RSS – great idea! Let's make it extensible and part of Semantic Web; so we'll use XML RDF.
RSS 2.0 RSS=Really Simple Syndication
RSS – great idea! Let's keep it simple. So we'll use XML.
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RSS 1.0 Extensions“Developing Feeds With RSS and Atom”, (O'Reilly), Ben Hammersley lists some RSS 1.0 extensions:
• RSS for LOM, <http://www.downes.ca/xml/RSS_LOM.htm>
• Distribution of molecular information in CML, <http://wwmm.ch.cam.ac.uk/moin/CmlRss>
But some of the proposals mentioned seem not to be being developedNote:
Some of the proposals mentioned seem not to be being developed
But interest in XHTML 2 and news feeds and W3C's standardisation of Atom
A News Standards Summit was held in Amsterdam in May 2005. See <http://www.newssummit.org/2005/>
Latest News
Cav
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Limitations Of The RSS FormatLimitations Of RSS Format
• RSS's strengths are based on its simplicity• The simplicity means limited display capabilities and
functionality• You can't apply rich formatting or embed hyperlinks,
search interfaces, … in RSS feeds• Actually can by using XML escaping techniques• Such tricks make work in some viewers (e.g.
browsers) but could cause problems in others• Do you want to repeat the problems caused during
the browser wars in late 1990s (pages looked and behaved differently in different browsers)?
• Aim to maximise interoperability rather than maximise functionality
Cav
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Limitations Of RSS StatisticsRSS Statistics
• There are lies, dammed lies and Web statistics!• Be wary of RSS statistics
Issues• RSS aggregators may harvest resources which
are not read• RSS items may be retrieved while your PC is left
on over the weekend• 40% of my visitors now get information via RSS.
What does this mean? What are the implications?
Cav
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Beyond Text (1)Podcasting:
• Automated delivery mechanism for transferring sound files to you MP3 player (or PC)
• Concept invented in 2004• Exponential growth• Based on RSS 2.0 (plus enclosures)
Is it of interest?• Accessibility• Learning processing information on the move
Twenty-nine percent of US adults who own MP3 players like [the] iPod say they have downloaded podcast programs from the Internet, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found... more than 6 million people are listening to a form of communication that emerged only last year ….
See Wikipedia entry
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Beyond Text (2)On 5 April 2005 the Bibliocasting list was announced:
".. dedicated to discussion of streaming media in library environment. This list grows out of increasing popularity of "Podcasting," .. use of RSS .. to download audio programs (like audio blogs) to computers and MP3 players. So what to post on the list? Examples of how libraries can build on the growing excitement of Podcasting; Questions on how libraries can use podcasting and other multimedia information they create to promote themselves and provide better service; …We have also set up a podcast for the list...that's right, you can listen to the list. Each post is transformed from text-to-speech, and syndicated using RSS."
Futu
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RSS & PodcastsRSS feed of automated text-MP3 conversion of email messages on biblio list:
• “… can you image anything more boring to do with an iPod”?
But this led to UKOLN experiment:• Take UKOLN news item• Use festival to convert to WAV and lam to covert to MP3
(open source utilities)• Now have an MP3 sound file
Potential of this idea:• Sound version of news available to blind users (avoiding
reading navigational elements, etc.)• Use with RSS Podcast to deliver automatically to MP3
player• Potential for application with dynamic RSS feeds (e.g. new
Google search results, info on Glastonbury tickets on sale on eBay below chosen price, …)
Futu
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Integrating RSS & PodcastsAwasu:
• An RSS reader & Podcasting client
Also has plugins for:• IMAP/POP email• Alerts for searches• …
Thoughts:• We once wanted a
Web interface to everything
• Do we want an RSS interface to new stuff?
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Related Standards (1)We've discussed RSS and RSS Also relevant:
• Atom: • Proposal to merge RSS • See <http://www.atomenabled.org/> and
<http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/FrontPage>• OPML:
• Outline Processor Markup Language • Can be used to manage (e.g export/import)
groups of RSS feeds• Widely used by BBC • See <http://www.opml.org/>• Seemingly informal governance – but popular
Futu
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Related Standards (2)iCal:
• Syndication standard for event information• Example: click on iCal file for conference dates
and date automatically added to your calendar • Used by CETIS• See <http://www.usetasks.com/documentation/
tasks/ical_apps.html>NewsML
• Heavyweight standard for syndicating news• "NewsML is designed to provide a media-
independent, structural framework for multi-media news."
• Used by news profession (e.g. Reuters)• Includes embargo deadlines, version control, etc.• See <http://www.newsml.org/>
Futu
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Engaging With Standards (1)An opportunity to engage with development of the standards:
http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/admin/rss2calendar.asp Exploiting RSS 1.0's Extensibility
• Using RSS 1.0 + events
• What additional extensibility is required? Subject xxx
Note: RSS 2.0 extensibility based on XML namespaces doesn't resolve semantic interpretations
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Engaging With Standards (2)http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/ConceptualModel Engaging With Atom
Development• Atom – son of
RSS 1.0+2.0?• Blog-focused –
what about library's and publisher's needs?
• See Atom Wiki - <http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/FrontPage>
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Exercise 3A: NewsletterExercise:Your organisation produces many newslettersYou have been asked to update the technical architecture
• Is there an opportunity to use innovative technologies (& need for the technologies)?
• What role can RSS have?• What authoring model should you use?• What support will end users need?• How do you address the issue of trust?
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Exercise 3B: Trust IssuesYou feel RSS is a key technology for your organisation. You want to use if to disseminate mission-critical info (course info, exam results, …)You are worried that use of RSS may be hindered by:
• Concerns by 3rd parties in letting you publish on their Web site
• Your legal adviser's worries• …
What should you do to address such concerns?Is a service agreement needed? If so, what should it cover
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Exercise 3B: Trust IssuesRSS Partner service agreementThis agreement related to the RSS feeds listed.The PARTNER SERVICE agrees to:
• Make reasonable effort to ensure that the RSS feeds are persistent until at least DATE.
• Validate RSS files when they created or updated and ensure usable in wide range of RSS readers
• Make reasonable effort to ensure that titles and descriptions have consistent length and style
• Make reasonable effort to ensure that the content of the RSS feeds is accurate and appropriate
• Allow the content to be reused as defined in the Creative Commons licence
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ConclusionsRSS:
• Powerful lightweight solution for news syndication
• Provides users with flexibility in how they choose to receive content
• More than just news – potential for richer syndication of content, dynamic content, …
• Quality of content important in ensuring end users trust the content
• Need to develop appropriate publishing procedures for news
• Still some issues about standards – but this shouldn't prevent deployment
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DiscussionOpportunity for general discussion
