RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a format for sharing headlines and content online. It allows companies to easily syndicate updates about new products, articles, or other information. John Shaw's presentation examines how RSS works, who uses it, and potential business models for its use. He details SAGE's experiments providing RSS feeds of journal content, which led to growing subscriptions and link-throughs to full-text articles. Shaw believes RSS could be further monetized through premium subscriptions, targeted advertising, or integration with search engines and other services.

1. RSS-PECT
How it can change your
(product’s) life
John Shaw
Director, Publishing Technologies
SAGE Publications, U.S.
! What is RSS?
! The History and the Hype …
! Who Uses It and What Does It Look Like?
! Business Models
! Future Business Models
! Resources and Links
What is RSS?
Vocabulary…
" XML (ĕks’ĕm-ĕl’) NOUN: A metalanguage
ĕks’ĕm- ĕl’)
written in SGML that allows one to
design a markup language, used to allow
for the easy interchange of documents on
the World Wide Web
" RSS (är’ĕs’ĕs) NOUN: A lightweight XML
r’ĕs’ĕs)
format designed for sharing headlines
and other web content
" ATOM (ăt’ m) NOUN: An XML-based document
m) XML-
format for the syndication of web
content such as weblogs and new
headlines
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2. What is RSS?
What RSS is NOT…
" RSS is not the answer to open access
" RSS is not a way to reduce the complexity of online
publishing
" RSS is not a way to reduce journal subscription costs
" RSS is not for technophobes
" RSS is not SPAM or junk mail … yet
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What is RSS?
What RSS IS …
" An incredibly popular tool being used by Fortune
500 companies
" A very quick and easy way to syndicate content
online
" A new way to push content alerts, corporate news,
and new product information
" A potential revenue stream in the coming years
" An answer to e-mail overload
e-
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The History and the Hype …
Background …
1997 – Microsoft created Channel Definition Format for the
Active Channel feature of IE 4.0
1997 – David Winer designed an XML-based format for
XML-
syndication of his Scripting News weblog
1999 – Dan Libby of Netscape created an XML-based format for
XML-
use with My Netscape Portal
2002 – David Winer created RSS 2.0 and renamed the format to
Really Simple Syndication
2003 – Aaron Swartz designed RSS 3.0
2003 – Atom specification developed
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3. The History and the Hype …
The Hype …
" July 9, 2004 – “Ingenta Introduces RSS Feeds”
" February 8, 2005 – “Ask Jeeves Acquires Bloglines”
Bloglines”
" June 17, 2005 – “Yahoo Search Launches Search Subscription
Beta”
" June 22, 2005 – “Elsevier Offers Personlized RSS Feeds”
" July 26, 2005 – “Yahoo Acquires Konfabulator”
Konfabulator”
" June 28, 2005 – “ SIRSI Launches Library User Interface”
" June 29, 2005 – “AOL Partners with Feedster for Personalized
Search”
" August 9, 2005 – “Google Adds RSS Feeds”
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Who Uses It and What Does it Look Like?
Sites with RSS …
" Disney " LexisNexus
" Ford " Elsevier
" BBC " NPG
" CNN " Ingenta
" CNET " Thompson
" Forbes " Factiva
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Who Uses It and What Does it Look Like?
How do you
find it on a site?
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4. Who Uses It and What Does it Look Like?
What Does Lightweight XML (RSS) Look Like?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<?xml encoding="ISO-8859-
- <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/"
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/"
<title>Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin current issue</title>
<title>Personality issue</title>
<link>http://psp.sagepub.com</link>
<link>http://psp.sagepub.com</link>
<description>Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin RSS feed -- current issue</description>
<description>Personality issue</description>
<prism:issn>0146-1672</prism:issn>
prism:issn>0146-1672</prism:issn>
- <items>
- <rdf:Seq>
rdf:Seq>
<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/10/1315?rss=1" /> </rdf:Seq>
rdf:resource="http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/10/1315?rss=1" </rdf:Seq>
</items>
- <title> <![CDATA[ Forgiveness and Its Associations With Prosocial Thinking, Feeling, and Doing Beyond the Relationship With the
Offender ]]>
</title>
<link>http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/10/1315?rss=1</link>
<link>http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/10/1315?rss=1</link>
- <description> <![CDATA[ <p><I>Past research has revealed that forgiveness promotes prosocial cognition, feeling, and behavior
forgiveness
toward the offender..</I></p> ]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Karremans, J. C., Van Lange, P. A. M., Holland, R. W.</dc:creator>
dc:creator> Karremans, W.</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2005-09-02</dc:date>
dc:date> 2005-09-02</dc:date>
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Who Uses It and What Does it Look Like?
What does
an RSS
feed look
like?
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Who Uses It and What Does it Look Like?
What does
an RSS feed
look like?
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5. Business Models
SAGE Business Model …
" Began RSS tests in June 2005
" Placed on six society journal titles – two medical
and four social science
" XML marker placed on homepage of sites
" RSS for current and recent table of contents
" No marketing or promotion to aggregators
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Business Models
RSS subscriptions on
SAGE journal titles –
Snapshot -
June 6, 2005
September 1, 2005
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Business Models
RSS link-throughs
from RSS feed to
journal site
Snapshot -
August 3, 2005
August 18, 2005
September 1, 2005
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6. Business Models
RSS link-throughs
with access rights
to full text content
Snapshot -
August 3, 2005
August 18, 2005
September 1, 2005
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Business Models
Possible Business Concerns …
! Passing fad
! Free service to customers that costs companies money
! General lack of understanding of emerging technology
! Loss of personal data (about customers)
! Lack of OR difficulty in collecting information on how
users are using content
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Future Business Models
Future for RSS with SAGE …
" Deployment on more titles
" Keyword, taxonomy, and/or citation RSS feeds
" Corporate website deployment
" SAGE breaking news
" New products
" Jobs at SAGE
" Internal communications
" HR policy changes
" Department news
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7. Future Business Models
Premium Business Models …
" Ad placement in feeds
" Partner with Amazon’s affiliate partner program
" Premium subscriptions
" User defined premium data
" Based on keywords and taxonomies working in
unison with rich content
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Future Business Models
Future …
! ATOM – more robust, rich format
! More customized interface
! Simplify and integrate process for technophobes
! Integration with search engines, advertisers – user-defined
content and advertisements
! Complete RSS acceptance by corporation and users
! RSS SPAM and Viruses .....
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Resources and Links
Content syndication --
http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=4446&Query=RSS
Premium content vendors take desktop challenge -- http://econtentmag.com/?ArticleID=7855
Tapping the feed: in search of an RSS money trail -- http://econtentmag.com/?ArticleID=7734
Can RSS relieve information overload? --http://econtentmag.com/?ArticleID=6188
Success story: RSS moves into the mainstream at the University of Alberta libraries --
http://elsevier.com/wps/find/librariansinfo.librarians/lc030208
What is RSS? -- http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html
RSS file format -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(protocol)
RSS history (Dave Winer) -- http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssVersionHistory
WebReference articles -- http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss
List of news aggregators -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_news_aggregators
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8. Thank you!
John Shaw
John.Shaw@sagepub.com
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