An Introduction to RSS Aggregators and Their Use

Alabama Digital Humanities Center WorkshopFebruary 10, 2012

Steven L. MacCall, PhDAssociate Professor

School of Library and Information StudiesThe University of Alabama

RSS: NOT Any of These, Tom

...Real Smart Simians... ...Ravingly Simple Salads... ...Raunchy Savory Samples... ...Realtime Smart Slippers... ...Rapidly Shrinking Sandboxes...

Goals for Today

What is RSS? What fundamental problem does it address? How does it address this problem?

Practical RSS aggregator use tips: Monitoring the “flow” of the Web “Modes” of using RSS aggregators

What’s the Problem?

Fundamental Problem with the Web

… and yes, it has to do with the hyperlink!

When I click a hyperlink, what happens?

In a basic sense, I am sending a message to a server somewhere on the web that serves as a request to retrieve one of the documents stored on that server for subsequent viewing of that document on my client machine.

So, What’s the Problem?

This entire process seems like the opposite of being problematic … what could be more simple than clicking on hyperlinks???

Well, like many things, problems emerge when seemingly simple systems must scale up to meet the demands required of a real world application: The emergence of tens of thousands, if not millions, of

usable websites out there The lack of consistent content structuring across these

resources: New York Times and Washington Post University of Alabama Libraries and Auburn Libraries

A Statement of the Problem + Time

The combination of the explosive growth of inconsistently structured web resources coupled with the fixed amount of time available for reading such resources leads to aggravation.

And, yes, I am blaming this entirely on the lowly little hyperlink: I must click on the hyperlink every time I want to check a

website for new information This results in inefficiency … many times, I waste

precious time by revisiting a website that has not updated since my last visit

Irony: Print Resources Address Problem!

Newspapers, periodicals, and yes, even books, will ALERT US when they are ready to be read: They show up in our mailboxes They appear on the new book shelf

Further, each of these types of resources has a predictable structural identity: I know how to “use” a newspaper or periodical I know how to “use” a book

The Role of Web Content Aggregation

The solution on the web is to aggregate your resources of interest into a single place: I would then want to be alerted whenever one of my

favorite websites was updated I would want a standardized appearance for my selected

resources

To create this environment, web developers had to attack the basic problem of one-way hyperlink communication (from client to server) and provide a mechanism for communication in the other direction (from server to client).

Enter RSS!!

Acronym for: Really Simple Syndication Rich Site Summary And others

Today we are interested in how RSS can reduce the aggravation of keeping track of new information on hundreds (or more) of websites.

RSS Definition RSS is an XML-encoding standard for generating a

feed of a website’s changes.

It is a service that is made available by webmasters: RSS logo:

On a blog UA Libraries new book shelf

OR RSS icon:

NY Times UA Libraries Library and Information Science LibGuide

How Do RSS Feeds Help?

Webmasters uses RSS to syndicate their content: The result is a feed of all changes However, individuals must subscribe to these feeds Therefore, whenever you see a or a , you can

subscribe to that website

But how does this help?

The Missing Link: RSS Aggregators

In order to take advantage of the increasing number of available RSS feeds, one needs software through which to subscribe to individual feeds.

Generally, these are referred to as RSS Aggregators, but also as: Feed reading software Blog reading software RSS readers

A convenient list of RSS Readers: http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3531486

Google Reader

In our short amount of time today, we are going to look at Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader.

Read, and communicate with to each other in order to experience this new way to monitor websites … it’s definitely a skill that you can help you deal with your information future!

Practical RSS Aggregator Use Tips

Your RSS Aggregator as Infrastructure

Building infrastructure can be painful.

Using infrastructure can be transparent.

Foldering your Subscriptions

Most aggregators allow you to maintain folders for your subscriptions.

A well organized aggregator makes for more efficient Web content monitoring!

Alas, Google Reader only allows for one level of hierarchical depth!

Get into “Flow” of Web Conversations

You can think of a lot of Web content in terms of a conversational flow: Do you really want to take part in *every* conversation at the next

cocktail party that you attend? Topics often repeat (often an indicator of their importance!)

Should have a strategy for using your RSS aggregator: What to read now What to read later

Tip #1: Read Now, Read Later or Toss

Read now: Reading now is ALWAYS an option, but it’s not a sustainable general strategy.

Read later: “Keep unread” check box will preserve the content in your

aggregator Clicking on star button will place a post in a “to be read” location

Toss: If you do not want to read the post now or at a later time, you can simply ignore the post and it will not reappear in your browser. (However, you can always retrieved tossed posts!)

Tip #2: Multiple Reading Mode Strategy Remember the flow of Web conversation:

The Web is a graph with several billion directed edges (i.e., hyperlinks) connecting tens of billion pages with embedded conversations)

This graph structure affords great redundancy so that an important topic is rarely ignored, but will repeat as people continue to converse

To deal with this underlying conversational infrastructure you should have two modes for reading in your RSS aggregator: Browsing mode: Quickly examine posts; use the “keep unread” or

starring functions for posts of interest and toss remaining posts Reading mode: Returned to saved posts in a reading mode that

allows for better comprehension

Tip #3: Archive Important Posts Offline

Sometimes, you’ll want to archive important posts for later retrieval.

A built in strategy of most RSS Aggregators, such as Google Reader, is to email a post.

In your email, you can organize these posts by subject.

I use this method to organize those posts that I know will impact my writing at some unspecified future time.

In Conclusion

Trust the conversational flow.

Have a thoughtful “mode” when using your RSS Aggregator.

Share!