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Emerging Technology:

RSSUnderstanding and Using RSS

Journalism 163School of Journalism & Mass Comm

JMC163

Steve Sloansteve.sloan@sjsu.eduhttp://sloantech.blogspot.com/

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Goals Define and Discuss Emerging Technology and where RSS fits into it

Define key terms associated with RSS

Provide an overview of the technologies associated with RSS

Discuss how RSS, and related technologies, can be a way to manage information

Discuss possible ways that RSS and related technologies may evolve

Subscribe to and view an RSS feed

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RSS is an Emerging

Technology

What is Emerging Technology?

What are some other emerging

technologies?

The adjective emerging has 3 meanings Coming into view

Coming into existence

Coming to maturity

Internet + Weblogging The read-write web

Dan Gillmor, “We the media”

User enabling software-hardware Common computers over 1 billion instructions a second (Super

Computers, “Lethal Weapons”)

Media creation applications such as iMovie, iPhoto etc.

Portable devices OQO, Sony devices, Nokia and “Scoble” phones

Always-on broadband in the home Cable-DSL

Ubiquitous connectivity, “digital dial tone” 802.11, Cellular, RSS, (wireless plus download)

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Emerging TechnologiesPortable Phones, an emerging technology of the

pastPortable phones once niche players in

telecommunications

Hard to use

Cumbersome

Expensive

Now considered one of the three things everybody hasWallet/purse

Keys

Portable phone

Continuing to change face of society, this tech is still emerging

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Understanding ET

“Disruptive Technology”

Sustaining verses emerging “disruptive” technologies Disruptive, in this case, means products and technologies that

disrupt established solutions and markets, but sustain the underlying process

This can be viewed as methods that offer easier, faster, better and/or cheaper ways of providing goods, services and information

See:The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen

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Impact of Disruptive

Technologies

At turn of the 20th Century the steam train was the transportation system of choice to meet underlying need to get from place to place

Safe

Comfortable

Fast

Relatively convenient

Internal combustion engine could not compete in core market so it developed in a niche market

Provided “Personal Transportation”

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Impact of Disruptive

Technologies

By end of 20th Century, internal combustion engine has replaced steam engine in what was steam engine’s core market

Steam engine has become niche player

Railroads have declined, focused on freight, and are no longer a predominate mode of long distance travel

Disruptive Emerging Technologies Change markets, processes and paradigms

Existing paradigms are not secure

Start and develop in niche and often obscure markets

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Emerging Technologies and

RSS

Emerging technologies work together to improve underlying processes

People need to create, communicate, collaborate and learn Wikis, weblogs, and podcasts generate RSS feeds

RSS in turn enables repackaging and delivery of content to a variety of client platforms

RSS is a subset of Emerging Technology Other technologies are a subset of RSS

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Understanding RSS

All you need to know:

Keeping it simple!

Good functional definitions

RSS (pronounced "arr-ess-ess") is a web syndication protocol primarily used by news websites and weblogs

Format for delivering summaries of regularly changing web content

RSS is the format for repackaging and viewing content from changing websites

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Really Simple Syndication

An Extensible Markup Language (XML) file

An RSS file follows format rules

RSS allows for content distribution and republication

Primarily used by news sites and weblogs.

Other definitions

Rich Site Summary

RDF Site Summary

Terms: RSS

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RSS: A technical definition

More than you need to know:

RSS is a file format that allows anyone with a website — from large media companies to individual commentators — to easily "syndicate" their content, similar to how comic strips and popular columns are syndicated by their owners to hundreds of newspapers. Except that on the Web, the RSS syndication is usually free, and the content that is syndicated is often not the full entry, but excerpts and links back to the originating website.

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Terms: Weblog A weblog, Web log or simply a blog, is a web application which contains periodic, reverse chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage.

Such a Web site would typically be accessible to any Internet use

The changing nature of weblogs, and their reverse chronological ordering, makes them especially suited to RSS feeding

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Terms: Feed A file document, in XML format, associated with a changing website, typically a weblog

As with all markup language documents (HTML & XML); RSS documents employ a set of tags (syntactic) that describe elements of the text

Typically these files are updated dynamically as the site changes

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Terms: Aggregation

A program that reads an RSS or an Atom feed is called an aggregator

Aggregator programs collect data from multiple feeds and consolidate them into a simple to navigate view

Aggregators are typically constructed as extensions to a Web browser, as extensions to an email program, or as standalone programs

An aggregator program is also called a reader

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Terms: Syndication Making Web feeds available from a site so other people can display an updating list of content from it

Focuses on changing content

For example: one's latest forum or weblog postings, etc.

This originated with news and blog sites but is increasingly used to syndicate any information

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Terms: XML Extensible Markup Language A general-purpose markup language for creating special-

purpose markup languages

It is a simplified subset of SGML

Capable of describing many different kinds of data Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of

structured text and information across the Internet

Languages based on XML allow programs to modify and validate documents in these languages without prior knowledge of their form This allows information sharing between many platforms

The basis for the Microsoft® .Net Framework

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How does RSS work?

Feeder

The XML format file is typically updated dynamically by a web application that lists and links changes to a web site

Reader

A program known as an RSS aggregator, or feed reader, checks RSS-enabled feeds on behalf of a user and displays any updated information that it finds

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Standards(RSS and Atom) Many flavors of RSS

.9x, 1.x, 2.x

Atom (a fork in the road!)

Rooted in RSS

Not backwardly compatible with any of the previous RSS versions

Programs like Feedburner™ converts Atom to RSS

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RSS 2.0 and enclosures

Allows for attachments called “enclosures”

Podcasting

Download based

Videocasting

Mediablogging

Mobile blogging (moblogging)

Download, not streaming

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Consuming an RSS feed

Each feed is like a food

Each feed is unique

The reader is like a meal

A well rounded meal is an aggregation of foods

An RSS reader is the program that presents the information feeds

The reader provides the user interface

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Headlines

Content

Feeds

A typical RSS feed

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Many faces of RSS

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How do RSS readers differ?

Three basic types of client side applications

Extensions to a Web browser

Extensions to an email program

Standalone programs

Can be Web applications

Can have widely different user interfaces

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Web based readers Google Reader

Bloglines

OPML Based

Your RSS feeds can be shared

You see what the people you read read

My Yahoo

NewsGator Online

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Local RSS readers Different 3rd party readers for PC + MAC

Hundreds of readers

List too long to include

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The real-time web TechnoratiUses RSS to track the popularity of weblogs by

keeping track of links between them

Users assign tags to their posts that are used to track similar posts

Attention.xmlMetadata that records and shares information

on the "attention" users give to their RSS feeds and blogs.

Extends the RSS reader by focusing on what people are reading and what information matches the profile of what you normally do read

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Mobile devices and RSS

Portable devices with always-on connection will grow market for download based media

Ability to create, post and access information nears ubiquity

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Secure RSS? Is there such a thing?

Transparency not always desired

Secure RSS 2.0 and SSH/SSL encryption technologies could be employed

Private channels One to one

One to few

One to many

RSS = “Digital Dial Tone”

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Transparency By nature RSS is transparent

This can be good or bad

May violate privacy

Invites the world into the classroom

Some solutions for this

Use application layer security (SSL/SSH)

Secure RSS?

Do we adapt to provide more transparency, or do we adapt the tool to provide greater security?

Route around nature of Internet may make it difficult to not be transparent

Like it or not, the world is getting more transparent and information ubiquity is becoming the norm

Easier to spread information than to verify it

Increases need for trusted sources

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RSS Pitfalls Get all the news you want, and none you don’t?

Folks can subscribe to channels that only fit their world view

Increase polarization

More Red vs. Blue

Raising the bar on information compilation

Increase expectations, stress and anxiety

Aggregation aggravation

Overload

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Future of RSS Will replace E-mail & Web browser

Social groups and human relations will be mapped and extend into RSS

XFN, FOAF and Rojo

Rich content can be delivered via download, using RSS

Ability to deliver rich content will grow

Podcasting

Videocasting

Mobile devices

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Get aggregating! www.newsgator.com

Create an account

Subscribe

www.sjsu.edu/rss

Itsupport.sjsu.edu

You are aggregating

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My Favorite Feeds Bob Scoble “The human aggregator”

TechmemeGabe Rivera

David SifryTechnorati and the growth of the Blogosphere

Down the AvenueRene Blodgette (PR with heart)

Backup BrainDori Smith & her husband

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Contact info and conversation

SJSUSteve.sloan@sjsu.edu

(408) 924-2374

GeneralSkype/AIM: ssloansjca

Web: sloantech.blogspot.com

(408) 605-0692

S_sloan@mac.com

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Next steps Part 2 of RSS coming Podcasting!

RSS Evolved

This will be available on-line Jmc163.wordpress.com

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www.sjsu.edu/cats/2003/showcase/