RSS: Three Letters Every Advocate Needs to Know

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RSS Three Letters Every Advocate Needs to Know

• Presented by David Bonebrake
• Legal Services National Technology Assistance
  Project
• July 25, 2008

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Panelist Control Panel

• Reduce Panel with GrabTab
• View Full Screen Mode
• Move Control Panel (Put cursor on any textured
  area to drag)
• Anchor Your Panel (or subpanels) with thumbtack
• Question Answers (goes to Organizers)
• Chat (goes to all Participants please use
  Chat today)
• Smiley Face, Presenter, Keyboard, Color of Your
  Pen!

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Mute Yourself

• Using GoToMeeting Phone
• -- To MUTE 6
• -- To UNMUTE 6

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Todays Training

• Introduction to RSS
• RSS Walkthroughs
• Setting up Google Reader
• Setting up a News Alert feed for your
  organization
• Getting started with Law Blawgs
• Creating RSS feeds for your organization
• Related Technology - Twitter

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What is RSS?
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What is RSS?

• RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication
• RSS allows websites to syndicate content to other
  websites and other applications such RSS feed
  readers, and web browsers

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How RSS Works
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Traditional Web Browsing
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Web Browsing Now
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RSS to the Rescue

• RSS makes keeping up with web-based resources
  easier, especially as that pool of resources
  expands
• When used effectively, its an important tool for
  fighting information overload

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Atom Feeds

• Very similar to RSS feeds
• All new RSS readers and web browsers support Atom
  and RSS standards
• Most users do not need to worry about the
  difference between the two

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Getting started with rss
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Different Uses of RSS

• Stay updated on your field
• Immerse yourself in a new area
• Monitor what others are saying about your
  organization

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Who is creating RSS Feeds?

• Legal news sites
• Legal technology sites
• National legal aid organizations
• Statewide websites
• Law Blawgs
• Courts
• Project management tools
• Case management systems

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RSS Readers

• Web Based Readers
• Google Reader
• Bloglines
• iGoogle
• MyYahoo
• Software Based RSS Readers
• Feed Demon
• Net News Wire
• FeedReader
• RSS-supporting Web Browsers
• Internet Explorer 7
• Firefox

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Web Based Readers - Google
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Desktop Readers - Feed Demon
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Browsers - Firefox
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Browsers IE 7
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Subscribing to RSS Feeds

• Look for the RSS logo
• Both Google Reader MyYahoo have built-in feed
  searches

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google reader walkthrough
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Setting up a google news feed for your
organization
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Law Blawgs
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ABA Journal Blawg Directory
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RSS feeds and websites
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Websites Consuming RSS Feeds

• Like RSS readers, web pages can consume and
  display RSS feeds
• Most modern web platforms support easy inline
  display of RSS feeds
• Pro Bono Net
• Open Source Template

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Websites Creating RSS Feeds

• Most modern web platforms also support
  syndicating website content
• New Open Source CMSs
• Pro Bono Platform
• Blogging Software
• http//techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/page58
  20.cfm

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RSS Feeds on the Probono.net template

• The probono.net advocate site template has
  outgoing RSS feeds from the News, Calendar and
  flexible content pages.
• Site visitors can subscribe to that content via
  their own RSS reader)

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RSS Feeds on the Probono.net template

• A widget for an incoming RSS feed from other
  sources can be added to the homepage and other
  areas of the site.
• Supports all RSS and most Atom feeds.

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TRLA Press Center
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Additional Resources

• RSS section of the LSNTAP Tech Library
• Ultimate RSS Toolset
• http//oedb.org/library/features/the_ultimate_rss_
  toolset