A centre of expertise in digital information management RSS and JISC Services Newsfeed Aggregator Demonstrator Brian Kelly UK Web Focus UKOLN Email [email protected]URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ UKOLN is supported by: Contents •What do we want to do? •Why use RSS? •RSS examples •The JISC RSS aggregator •Ensuring quality •Other issues http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/jisc-200
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A centre of expertise in digital information management RSS and JISC Services Newsfeed Aggregator Demonstrator Brian Kelly UK Web Focus.
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
RSS and JISC Services Newsfeed Aggregator Demonstrator
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 services and we want everyone to know about them.So we:
• Run events• Publish newsletters• Run mailing lists• Contribute to mailing list• Provide Web sites• Ask others to include
news on their Web sites,newsletters, email lists, …
• ….
But:• Not everyone attends• Not everyone reads• Too much information,
too much spam• 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
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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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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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
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
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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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)
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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RSS ViewersLots of different ways of reading RSS news feeds, which allows user to select preferred approach:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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RSS Aggregators
An 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
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
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A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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The JISC RSS AggregatorJISC RSS Aggregator:
• Provides single point of access to news from JISC services
• Efficient (limited management needed centrally)
• Well-designed, attractive interface
• Developed by EEVL (Geir Granum and Malcolm Moffat)
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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RSS File Format
RSS is a powerful, lightweight format. How do you create RSS news feeds?
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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!
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!
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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RSS Authoring Tools
Many 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 (??)
Note: UKOLN planning updates and new RSS tools. Suggestions welcome.
Note: UKOLN planning updates and new RSS tools. Suggestions welcome.
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Publishing Your RSS Feed
When publishing your RSS feed:• Save file at stable location on Web server
e.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, etc.
• View feed in various types of RSS viewers
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Validators available at <http://librdf.org/rss/>, <http://feeds.archive.org/validator/>, etc.
Validators available at <http://librdf.org/rss/>, <http://feeds.archive.org/validator/>, etc.
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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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
If you include a <LINK> tag, users can automatically add a dynamic bookmark to Firefox
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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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?
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?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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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)
• 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.
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.
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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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 Issues (1)Technical Issues
• Important to validate RSS file• Incorrect syntax / characters
may or may not be displayed• Be aware of non-standard