Cali 2008 Len Davidson V2

RSS & Widgets: How to put your law school on My Yahoo, iGoogle, Facebook, and MySpace Len Davidson Catholic University Law Library Conference for Law School Computing June 2008 v2

My Background

Catholic University Law Library 2005 - today Systems Librarian Webmaster

DeSales University Library 2002 - 2005 Systems Librarian Webmaster

Georgetown Medical Library 1993 - 2000 Reference Librarian Training – MS Office, HTML, Genetics Databases

Outline

What is a Widget?

Examples of Widgets

Lexis & Westlaw Widgets

Planning your Widget

Will students use your widget?

Building your own Widget

Big Picture – Emerging Standards

Your Web Page Skill Level don’t want to look under the hood Low: WYSIWYG editor, some tags, understand links Medium: write HTML, know tags, create Flash movies High:

Your Law School’s Web Site static website staff/faculty not using Social Networking Simple: RSS feeds, some dynamic content Medium: blogs, wikis, podcasting, RSS, dynamic content Advanced:

Some Confessions

Why I should not be up here (lowering the bar)

We have not gone live with any widgets

2 months ago, I did not have Facebook account

Bias against social networking [must purchase Feed Builder Module]

Introduction

Why I am here

Because I like to tinker

Every where you look, widgets

What is a widget?

Definition:

A web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user. Wikipedia

First Widgets

Page Counters, RSS

What is RSS ?

RSS = Really Simple Syndication

Format developed in 1999 using XML

Defines standard for sharing news items

Typical Icons

Examples - Feeds

Newspapers – NY Times

More Examples

Reporters/Columnists/Bloggers/Podcasts

Government Data http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libraries/RSS_Library.shtml

eBay Searches

Feed Search Engines examples: http://www.syndic8.com/

http://www.rss-locator.com /

Create your own RSS

Create XML file

Place on Web Server

Publicize URL to Patrons

Creating XML in RSS format

XML Editors (by hand) examples: http://www.xml.com/pub/pt/3

RSS Feed Generators (by hand) examples: ListGarden (Win, Mac, Linux), Super Simple RSS (Win)

Computer Programming (automatic) examples: Innovative OPAC, eBay, NY Times, Blogs

ListGarden Screenshot

Sample RSS File <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <rss version="2.0"> <channel> <title> CUA Law Library News </title> <link> http://lib.law.cua.edu/news2.xml </link> <item> <title> Spring Break Hours</title> <link> http://lib.law.cua.edu/home/libinfo/libnews.htm</link> <description> <table width='97%' border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0'> <tr> <td width='50%'>March 3 - March 9</td><td width='50%'>9:00am - 11:45pm</td></tr> <tr><td>March 10</td><td>Regular Hours</td> </tr> </table&gt ;</description> <pubDate> Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:07:58 GMT </pubDate> </item> </channel> </rss>

Publicize to Patrons

URL of Newsfeed

Looking at Our Feed

Beyond RSS: Gadgets Widgets

Search OPAC via Google Gadget

No standard code My Yahoo, Live.com, Netvibes use different code Google Gadgets: http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs/gs.html

Beyond RSS: widgetbox.com Penn State Library Emily Rimland http://www.widgetbox.com http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/jumpstart.htm

Beyond RSS: widgetbox.com

What is a widget? - Revisted

Definition:

A web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user. Ideally they be come VIRAL, that each installation is a platform for additional installations.

Advertizing

Holy Grail: Viral Ad, people install your Ad widget examples: Gadget Ads , Snaggable Ads

Advertizing Widgets – Pro & Con

Why Widgets Don't Work BusinessWeek 2008 March 3

Widgets: The Future of Online Ads BusinessWeek 2008 February 28

Widgets – Popular Examples

10 Widget Wonders Fast Company 2008 Jan

50 Great Widgets for your Blog mashable.com 2007 Jan

Top Widget Galleries about.com

Widgipedia

Widgets – File Sharing

box.net

lite.myfabrik.com

driveway.com

These sites give you online file space and the ability to create a widget to access that space.

Box.net

Widgets – Language Translators

Google Translate

Windows Live Translator

Yahoo Babel Fish

These sites will produce code for a widget that can translate a web page into a foreign laguage on the fly. EXAMPLE

Westlaw Widgets

watch.westlaw.com

Any patron can create 3 classes of widgets that dynamically search Westlaw:

CLIPS Single Source Monitor

Module

EXAMPLE

Widget Distribution Platforms

Clearspring

Springwidgets –

Gigya (Wildfire)

Widgetbox.com –

Yourminis.com

Widget Platforms * non-hosting

www.widgetavenue.com (in development)

Widget Creators

Sprout.com

Rockyou.com

Slide.com

Leafletter.com

Facebook Apps

Restaurant Wars http://apps.facebook.com/restaurantwars/

Library http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2538811407

Mashup Creation

Google Mashup Editor

Windows Popfly

Yahoo Pipes

Big Picture - Google

Google – Open Social

A common API for social applications across multiple websites. http:// code.google.com/apis/opensocial /

Google – Friend Connect

Easily adding social features to your website.

http:// www.google.com/friendconnect /

Webmasters Meant for: http://www.ossamples.com/recipes/ http://www.ingridmichaelson.com/ilike Examples: Builders of Social Networking web sites Meant for: orkut, ning, linkedin, hi5 Examples:

Big Picture - Google http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/friend-connected-web.html

Big Picture – Google