Gerry McKiernan

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Web Feeds From Computer Programming Sites
and Sources

• Gerry McKiernan
• Science and Technology Librarian and
  Bibliographer
• Iowa State University Library
• Ames IA 50011
• gerrymck_at_iastate.edu

http//www.public.iastate.edu/gerrymck/CIDU
G.ppt
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Web Feeds

• WHAT January Meeting
• WHERE Iowa Bankers Association, Johnston IA
  
• WHEN January 20, 2004 530 - 700 PM
• WHO Central Iowa Delphi Users Group

3
DISCLAIMER (1)
The screen prints selected for this presentation
are for educational purposes. Their inclusion
does not constitute an endorsement of an
associated product, service, place, or
institution.
4
DISCLAIMER (2)
The views and opinions expressed in this
document are those of the presenter and do not
constitute an endorsement by Iowa State
University or its Library.
5
DISCLAIMER (3)

• I Am Not
• A Rocket Scientist,
• Nor
• Do I
• Play One
• On TV.

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_von_Braun
6
THANK YOU!

• Pat Foley
• David W. Body

7
OUTLINE

• Why a Feed?
• Whats a Feed?
• Wheres the Feed?
• How a Feed?
• Who a Feed?

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Why a Feed?
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subway_28sandwich29

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Why a Feed?

• Automated Web surfing.
• Feeds are often sent immediately after something
  new is posted to the site, so users can know
  about new content instantly.
• I enjoy receiving feeds and updated sites on a
  consistent and up-to-date basis.

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Why a Feed?

• I use feeds to help stay current. Others who
  have more knowledge of the inner workings of RSS
  can use feeds to deliver content to their
  constituencies, either via portals or
  collaborative Weblogs.
• Its a push technology that makes it easy to get
  new content.

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Why a Feed?

• In a nutshell, a Webfeed is a way for online
  venues to continuously feed you announcements
  of their latest content, with links to each new
  content item. To instantly learn whats new on a
  site, just check its feed. When youre trying to
  follow developments at dozens or hundreds of
  sites, your time savings can be enormous.

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Why a Feed?

• News is delivered to your desktop's aggregator
  or feed reader rather than you having to visit
  each Web site to get the news.
• Now I get that company's breaking news every
  hour from more than 4,000 news sources all over
  the world. This capability saves me precious time
  when I am looking for newsworthy stories

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Why a Feed?

• RSS feeds provide a way to deliver content to
  the user, rather than the user having to go out
  and find the content via traditional Web methods,
  such as search engines and Web directories.
  Instead of bookmarking various sites and
  returning to them every day, the user can set up
  a feed .
• Web feeds can significantly reduce the need to
  individually re-visit sites of interest for
  changes or additions.

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Whats a Feed?
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt
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Whats a Feed?
16
Whats a Feed?
17
Whats a Feed?
http//www.muppetcentral.com/
18
RSS

• RSS is an umbrella term for a variety of XML
  files which enable the sharing of Web site
  content. It can be understood as a Web
  syndication protocol that is primarily used by
  news Websites and Weblogs.

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RSS

• RSS allows a Web developer to publish content
  on their Website in a format that a computer
  program can easily understand and digest.
• RSS simply repackages the content as a list of
  data items, such as the date of a news story, a
  summary of the story and a link to it.

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RSS

• A program known as an RSS aggregator or feed
  reader can then check RSS-enabled Web pages for
  the user, and display any updated articles that
  it finds.

http//www.llrx.com/features/richsite.htm
21
RSS

• Rich Site Summary
• Really Simple Syndication
• RDF Site Summary

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RSS

There are several flavors of RSS
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RSS

• Earliest RSS versions (.91, .92, .93, .94)
• and a later RSS version (2.0) were developed
• by UserLand (http//www.userland.com/ )
• RSS version 1.0 was developed by the RSS-DEV
  Working Group (http//groups.yahoo.com/group/
  rss-dev/).

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http//www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml
.html
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Userland RSS .091
http//www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.
html
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RSS 1.0
http//www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.
html
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RSS 2.0
http//www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.
html
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BASIC RSS STRUCTURE (1)

• lt?xml version"1.0" encoding"ISO-8859-1" ?gt
• ltrss version"0.91"gt
• ltchannelgt
• lttitlegt
• OLDaily
• lt/titlegt
• ltlinkgt
• http//www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm
• lt/linkgt
• ltdescriptiongt
• OLDaily - By Stephen Downes
• lt/descriptiongt

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BASIC RSS STRUCTURE (2)

• ltlanguagegt
• en-us
• lt/languagegt
• ltimagegt
• lttitlegt
• Stephen's Web
• lt/titlegt
• lturlgt
• http//www.downes.ca/images/rss.gif
• lt/urlgt
• ltlinkgt
• http//www.downes.ca
• lt/linkgt

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BASIC RSS STRUCTURE (3)

• ltwidthgt
• 90
• lt/widthgt
• ltheightgt
• 36
• lt/heightgt
• lt/imagegt
• ltitemgt 1
• lttitlegt
• Attack Update
• lt/titlegt
• ltlinkgt
• http//www.downes.ca
• lt/linkgt

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BASIC RSS STRUCTURE (4)

• ltdescriptiongt
• OK, here's where we stand. I have no email into
  or out of downes.ca - this means that if you are
  sending me email to stephen_at_downes.ca it will
  fail.
• lt/descriptiongt
• lt/itemgt /1
• ltitemgt 2
• lttitlegt
• Attack on Downes.ca
• lt/titlegt
• ltlinkgt
• http//www.downes.ca
• lt/linkgt

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BASIC RSS STRUCTURE (5)

• ltdescriptiongt
• Downes.ca was off the air for a few days
  following a denial of service attack. We are back
  for now but things are still touch and go. I'll
  keep you posted.
• By Stephen Downes, July 21, 2003
• lt/descriptiongt
• lt/itemgt /2
• lt/channelgt
• lt/rssgt

http//www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/view.cgi?dbs
Articlekey1059503386
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Atom

• Atom is a Web standard similar to RSS. It was
  created to solve the problem of confusion created
  by having parallel standards for RSS (e.g, Really
  Simple Syndication and RDF Site Summary) and
  create a new more flexible Web syndication format
  and API.
• Atom is an alternative XML Web feed format
  promoted by Blogger.com for its blogging service.

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_28standard29
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JavaScript
http//www.barelyfitz.com/projects/jssyndicate/
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RSS Generation / Creation

• Content Management Systems
• Absolut Engine
• http//www.absolutengine.com/
• Commercial Software
• FeedForAll
• http//www.feedforall.com/
• Open Source -based
• ListGarden
• http//www.softwaregarden.com/products/listgarden/
  index.html

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http//www.davidmattison.ca/
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http//www.davidmattison.ca/
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Wheres the Feed?
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Peller
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The Little Orange Icon(s)
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OTHER INDICATIONS

• RSS Feed
• Subscribe
• Syndicate
• Syndicate This Page

• Syndicate This Site
• Webfeed
• XML
• XML RSS

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http//www.librarystuff.net/
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http//www.libdex.com/weblogs.html
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http//www.lisnews.com/LISFeeds.php
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http//www.npr.org/rss/
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http//www.usnews.com/usnews/rss_info.htm
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http//www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/
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http//www.inthesetimes.com/site/about/newsletter/

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http//www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/xs/syndica
te.html
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http//blog.johnkerry.com /
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How a Feed?
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dean
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How a Feed?

• AmphetaDesk
• Bloglines
• FeedDemon
• FeedReader
• NetNewsWire
• NewsDesk
• NewsIsFree
• Radio UserLand
• SharpReader

NetNewsWire
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http//www.pluck.com/
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Subscribing to a Feed

• Depending on the particular reader, users can
  subscribe to a Web feed in a variety of ways
• Clicking the RSS feed option
• Clicking the icon and copying the Web address
  (URL) from the displayed page, and pasting the
  associated address into the reader
• Some readers also allow users to subscribe to a
  web feed by simply dragging and dropping the
  associated web feed icon into the reader.

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Subscribing to a Feed
http//www.pluck.com
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Mozilla Firefox Live Bookmarks
http//www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/live-bookm
arks.html
65
Wizz RSS News Reader
http//www.wizzcomputers.com/
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http//www.wizzcomputers.com/
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Opera
http//www.opera.com/
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Apple Safari RSS
http//www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/safari.html
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Web Feed Search Engines

• Daypop
• http//www.daypop.com/
• Complete RSS
• http//www.completerss.com/
• Feedster
• http//feedster.com//
• Syndic8
• http//www.syndic8.com/
• Technorati
• http//www.technorati.com/

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CompleteRSS
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Feedster
73
Syndic8
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Who a Feed?
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss
75
Whos a Feed

• About Delphi Programming
• (http//delphi.about.com/)
• DelphiDabbler.com
• (http//www.delphidabbler.com/)
• Dev Shed Forums
• (http//forums.devshed.com/announcement.php?f90
  )

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Whos a Feed

• Delphi Blog (http//www.rightclick.com.au/delphi/
  )
• SourceForge.net
• (http//sourceforge.net/)

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http//delphi.about.com/
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http//delphi.about.com/
79
http//delphi.about.com/
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Latest Articles
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http//www.delphidabbler.com/
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http//www.delphidabbler.com/articles.php
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Articles
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http//forums.devshed.com/announcement.php?f90
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http//www.rightclick.com.au/delphi/
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http//sourceforge.net/
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The Delphi Magazine Issue 99, November 2003
Under Construction Automatic RSS Content
Generation Bob Swart focuses on RSS channels
and automatic feeds. He explains what RSS is,
how it can be of benefit to RSS readers as well
as the publishers, and (specifically in this
issue) how to automatically produce RSS XML
documents from a database, resulting in a
database-driven content generator with an RSS
channel to publish a table of contents.
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Resources

• RSS(sm) Rich Site Services
• http//www.public.iastate.edu/CYBERSTACKS/RSS.htm
  
• eFeeds(sm) Web Feeds from Electronic Journals
• http//www.public.iastate.edu/CYBERSTACKS/eFeeds.
  htm
• B-Feeds(sm) Web Feeds for Books and Monographs
• http//www.public.iastate.edu/CYBERSTACKS/B-Feeds
  .htm
• General Bibliography
• http//www.public.iastate.edu/CYBERSTACKS/GenBib.
  htm

108
General Bibliography

• Jessica Baumgart, "An Introduction to RSS Feeds,"
  News Library News 26 no. 2 (Winter 2004) 1,
  14-16.
• Steven M. Cohen, "RSS for Non-Technie
  Librarians," LLRX(r).com (June 2002).
• Steven M. Cohen, "Using RSS An Explanation and
  Guide," Information Outlook 6 no. 12 (December
  2002) 6-8, 10.

109
General Bibliography

• Jenny Levine, "Unleashing the Power of RSS,"
  Preconference workshop presentation delivered at
  Computers in Libraries 2004, March 11, 2004,
  Hilton Washington, Washington, D.C.
• Roddy MacLeod, "RSS Less Hype, More Action,"
  FreePint No. 161 (June 2004) 7-10.
• Gerry McKiernan, "Rich Site Services Web Feeds
  for Extended Information and Library Services,"
  LLRX (September 20, 2004).

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General Bibliography

• Teri M. Vogel and Doug Goans, "Untangling Blogs
  RSS," Presentation delivered at a meeting of the
  Georgia Chapter of the Special Libraries
  Association, May 11, 2004, Georgia State
  University Library, Atlanta, Georgia.
• Marcus P. Zillman, Bots, Blogs News
  Aggregators A White Paper Link Compilation
  (Marco Island, Florida Marcus P. Zillman, August
  13 2004).

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General Bibliography

• Stephen Downes, How to Create an RSS Feed with
  Notepad, A Web Server, and a Beer Tutorial
  (Stephen's Web, 2003).

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Demonstration
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child
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http//www.pluck.com/product/rssreader.aspx
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• Thank You
• for
• Your Attention

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Seize the Feed
Content Syndication for Enhanced Governmental
Information Services

• Gerry McKiernan
• Science and Technology Librarian and
  Bibliographer
• Iowa State University Library
• Ames IA 50011
• gerrymck_at_iastate.edu

http//www.public.iastate.edu/gerrymck/SeizeTheFe
ed.ppt
116
CIDUG Presentation

• Final (revised)
• January 21, 2005
• 1030