Blogs

1
Blogs RSS Saving Time Through Aggregation

• Michael Sauers, Librarian, Trainer Writer
• NV DAWG 06 May 2005

2
What is a blog?

• A blog, short for weblog (pronounced we blog)
  is an online journal in which the postings are
  presented in reverse-chronological order.
• Typically blogs contain links to other online
  resources with additional commentary from the
  blogs author.

3
Why should your department have a blog?

• Theyre an easy way to provide information about
  whats happening in your department/division.
• Little to no (X)HTML experience necessary.
• Combined with RSS feeds its another way for
  users to receive timely information about what
  youre doing.

4
How do I create a blog?

• There are several services and software packages
  out there that make creating a blog easy. The two
  most popular are
• MoveableType (client)http//www.movabletype.org/
• Blogger (Web service)http//www.blogger.com/

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Blogger
6
What is RSS?

• Depending on who you ask it stands for either
  Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary,
  or RDF Site Summary.
• RSS is an XML language for syndicating news items
  on the Internet.

7
How does RSS work?

• The author creates an RSS file.
• Users subscribe to the file via an aggregator.
• When the author updates the RSS file, the user is
  automatically notified of the new items and may
  read them on their schedule.

8
Are there different versions of RSS?

• Yes. In fact, there are currently nine different
  versionsRSS 0.90, 0.91, 0.92, 0.93, 0.94, 1.0,
  2.0, 3.0 Atom Feeds
• Each has different features from the authors
  point of view.
• Todays aggregators support all of the versions
  transparently.

9
What does RSS look like?

• lt?xml version"1.0" encoding"UTF-8" ?gt
• ltrss version"2.0"gt
• ltchannelgt
• lttitlegtBCR The Third Indicatorlt/titlegt
• ltlinkgthttp//www.bcr.org/publications/thirdind/lt
  /linkgt
• ltdescriptiongtThe Third Indicator, published
  monthly, is a technical memo focusing on OCLC
  products and services. It includes general OCLC
  news as well as detailed technical information on
  cataloging, reference and resource sharing.
  Announcements of new OCLC developments are also
  included.lt/descriptiongt
• ltlastBuildDategtTue, 21 Sep 2004 213739
  GMTlt/lastBuildDategt
• ltgeneratorgtListGarden Program 1.01lt/generatorgt
• ltdocsgthttp//blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rsslt/doc
  sgt
• ltitemgt
• lttitlegtWorldCat Resource Sharing
  Traininglt/titlegt
• ltlinkgthttp//www.bcr.org/publications/thirdind/200
  4/august/augsharetrain04.htmllt/linkgt
• ltdescriptiongtIf you'd like to see what
  WorldCat Resource Sharing looks like and learn
  more about it, visit the OCLC Web site at
  www.oclc.org/ill/migration/ or view the WorldCat
  Resource Sharing tutorial at www5.oclc.org/downloa
  ds/tutorials/firstsearch/sv/rsbasics/intro/index.h
  tml/.lt/descriptiongt
• ltpubDategtTue, 21 Sep 2004 192947
  GMTlt/pubDategt
• ltguid isPermaLink"false"gtthirdind-2004-08-21-1
  9-29-47lt/guidgt
• lt/itemgt
• lt/channelgt
• lt/rssgt

10
What is an aggregator?

• A news aggregator is a software or a remotely
  hosted service that periodically reads a set of
  news sources, in one of several XML-based
  formats, finds the new bits, and displays them in
  reverse-chronological order on a single page.
  Wikipedia
• Its what you need to read RSS feeds.

11
What are the different types of aggregators?

• Standalone Clients
• FeedReader, Radio UserLand
• PIM add-ins
• Pluck, NewsGator, intraVnews
• Browser add-ins
• Firefox 1.0PR, Sage
• Web-based
• Bloglines, NewsIsFree
• A list is available _at_http//www.lights.com/weblog
  s/rss.html

12
FeedReader
13
Pluck
14
Firefox 1.0
15
Bloglines
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How can I find feeds?

• Feedster
• Bloglines
• BlogrollsA list of blogs/feeds read by another
  blogger

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How do I subscribe to a feed?

• Look for an orange icon
• Depending on your aggregator, the subscription
  procedure may range from copying and pasting the
  link to right-clicking and selecting subscribe.

18
How do I create a feed?

• Hand-rolledYou type the markup and the content
• Semi-automatedYou type the content, software
  generates the markup. (ListGarden)
• Fully-automatedYou put the content in your blog
  and software generates a feed based on that
  content. (RSSify _at_ LISFeeds.com)

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ListGarden
20
Blogger
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The Blog/RSS Cycle
FeedItem
UserSubscribes
The Blog/RSS Cycle
Blog Post
AggregatorFetch
UserReads
22
Notable government blogs, feeds resources

• RSS in Government www.rssgov.com
• GovTrack.us www.govtrack.us
• Missouri Agency News www.missouri.gov/mo/morene
  ws.htm
• Santa Clara Valley Water District
  www.valleywater.org/Water/Water_Quality/Protecting
  _your_water/_Perchlorate_Information/_Perchlorate
  20pages/Perchlorate_in_the_News.cfm
• National Institutes of Health News Events
  www.nih.gov/news/

23
RSS Services

• (X)HTML Validatorwww.benhammersley.com/tools/xhtm
  l_validator_to_rss.html
• Package Trackingwww.bloglines.com
• The Annotated NY Timeshttp//nytimes.blogrunner.c
  om/annotated/nytimes.com/dir/TOPICS-RSS.html
• del.icio.usdel.icio.us
• LibraryElfwww.libraryelf.com