Kent State Workshop - Using Web 2.0 Principles to Become Librarian 2.0, RSS, July 2008

Slide 1: Using Web 2.0 Principles to Become Librarian 2.0 RSS FEEDS Kent State University SLIS, July 18-19, 2008

Slide 2: Instructor: Brian C. Gray Head of Reference Librarian: Engineering, Mathematics, & Statistics Kelvin Smith Library, Case Western Reserve University Work email: bcg8@case.edu Work phone: 216-368-8685 IM: AIM - kslbcg8 ICQ - 499284601 Google Chat - kslbcg8@gmail.com MSN - bcg8@case.edu Yahoo - kslbcg8

Slide 3: Getting to Know RSS What is RSS? • Benefits of Using RSS • How to Read & Use RSS • RSS Readers • What is OPML? • Libraries and RSS • • Lets Play

Slide 4: Video: RSS in Plain English 4 http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english

Slide 5: Do you recognize RSS?

Slide 6: What is RSS? Really Simple Syndication Rich Site Summary RDF Site Summary User-initiated subscriptions that provide updates, news headlines, or other content directly to the user for browsing at their convenience.

Slide 7: RSS Family Tree Recognized by various terminology: XML, ATOM, RSS feed, RSS channel, RSS stream, syndicated feed, & webfeed Several versions are used: RSS 0.9, RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, Atom

Slide 8: Benefits of Using RSS • Receive updates without visiting each web site • Can monitor large number of sites very effectively • Short summaries or “table of contents” • Alternative to email notifications – Reduce spam building opportunities – Reduce “out of office” messages – No rejection of messages by email filters – Not “tracked” like an email subscription

Slide 9: Blogs vs. RSS – NOT the Same • Blog or weblog is a web site that contains relatively short entries, usually in chronological order • A blog can “generate” RSS feeds, depending on the blogging software Content versus Delivery

Slide 10: RSS Uses • Blog entries • Photos • Podcasts • Music • Library Circulation Records Table of Contents • Any data that is constantly updated or added to •  What can you think of?

Slide 11: How do I access RSS? • RSS readers, feed readers, feed aggregators or news readers • Desktop, Web Based, Built-in, or Email Based

Slide 12: Desktop • Requires installation on computer

Slide 13: Built-in Aggregators • Web browsers, plug-ins, etc.

Slide 14: Email Based Aggregators • Microsoft Outlook

Slide 15: Web Based Access

Slide 16: RSS Changing Our Patrons • Moving away from email & listservs • Current Awareness • “Pull” rather than “Push” • Sharing everything • Privacy? • Speed • My thought: A few years ago people would say “If not on the Internet, it is not legitimate” Is RSS the next thing patrons use to judge the value and currency of products & services?

Slide 17: Sharing with OPML • OPML - Outline Processor Markup Language • A collection of RSS feeds can be shared by an OPML file and imported by others into their RSS readers/aggregators Great way to create reading or additional resource lists for a class or organization

Slide 18: Other Websites RSS Integration: • MyYahoo • Google Personalized Homepage • RefWorks

Slide 19: Examples of Sites with Feeds • ESPN • Plain Dealer Updates • Chemical Abstract Service • IEEE Journals • OhioLINK EJC

Slide 20: My Library Offers RSS Feeds http://library.case.edu/ksl/rss/

Slide 21: RSS in Databases & Publisher Websites • Create a RSS alert directly from a result lists, a search history, or a publication’s table of contents.

Slide 22: Another Trick to Finding RSS Add “RSS” to your search engine searches.

Slide 26: More Information See more examples & tools at: http://www.squidoo.com/library2point0/