Transcript Syndication_and_Web_Nelson

Syndication and Website Content
Suggestions for Blogs, RSS
and Internal Syndication
Walter Nelson, RAND Corporation Library Webmaster
RSS: The “I don’t get it” factor
• Very few customers
understand RSS
• Third party feed readers are
confusing
• You have to meet your
customers where they are…
• …Not where you want them
to be
Domesticating RSS
• Embed RSS into web pages
• People “get” web pages
• Use RSS without downloading
anything
• Use RSS without knowing it is
RSS
• Feed is still available for
“Power Users”
What is RSS?
• “Feed” is a misnomer -- it doesn’t go anywhere
• It is a static page with a static URL
• It sits on the web and waits for your RSS reader to
come and read it
• Readers monitor RSS pages for changes
What is RSS?
• XML file
• Simple HTML-like format
• You update it just like an HTML file--you change
something and then post it to the server
• It contains brief text and links to other content
The Code: Bare Bones RSS Feed
The Tools
• Blog: Moveable Type
http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/
• RSS Parser: Feed2JS
http://feed2js.org/
• There are others on the market, but I won’t be
talking about them
Movable Type – Set Up
• Installation is the hard part, but you only have to do
it once
• Installed on your server (not hosted)
• Use “canned formats” or skilled web person can
customize it (HTML & CSS)
• Can be formatted to look like your website
Movable Type - Features
• Once installed, it is very easy to use
• Administrators approve authors (login/password)
• Authors add content with web interface – no special
software or skills required
• Uses SQL database to build/rebuild static, text
based HTML pages or dynamic pages
• Automatically generates RSS feed
• Very “Google Friendly”
Movable Type Plug Ins
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Available on the “SixApart” website
Provides dozens of additional custom features
Can make it sort by something other than date
Can provide structured data input
Hundreds of options are available
Think Outside the Blog!
• The Blog is a technology with many useful features
• It is a database publishing tool which sorts
chronologically and by category
• You don’t have to use a Blog for “Blogging”
• Corporate announcements, event calendar, image
database, online newspaper etc. etc. etc….
Feed2JS
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The second piece of the puzzle
Free ware from Maricopa County College
You can use their sites or install it on your server
Generates JavaScript which you can paste into your
web page
• Displays RSS feed as a bulleted list of links on a
web page
Hosted vs. Installed
• You can use the Feed2JS hosting sites at no charge
and without any special preparation
• It’s REALLY easy to do
• Pitfall: your page will only load as fast as the distant
server delivers content
• Moral: Install Feed2JS on your server if at all
possible
“Announcements” is an RSS Feed
Click headline to get to blog entry
Creates searchable archive
Key Blog Entry Elements
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Title
Subject categories (you define)
Main entry (appears on blog home page)
Extended entry (allows infinite detail - linked from
main entry)
• Summary (appears in RSS feed)
• Notification (send emails of new posts)
• Editable date (you can fiddle with display order)
Data Entry Screen
Optional features
• “Comments” allows readers to comment or add
additional content
• Comments should be mediated - spam is a HUGE
problem
• “Trackback” allows others to link their sites to yours
• “Trackback” not very useful -- widely abused by
spammers
Feed2JS Creates RSS Driven Web
Content
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Open Feed2JS page
Paste URL of RSS feed
Select display options
Generate JavaScript
Paste the JavaScript into your web pages
The Feed2JS Interface
RSS Feed Additional Uses
• Add external newsfeeds (BBC, CNN, Google News
etc.) to your website
• Create static “link list” as an RSS feed
• Use static feeds to maintain resource lists or menus
• Customers can subscribe to your link lists with RSS
tools (Firefox, Safari, Sharepoint, IE7)
Example: Library News Page
Center columns are external feeds, right & left columns are
static “link list” feeds
Additional Option: Category Feeds
• Parse your RSS feed by category
• One blog creates multiple feeds
• Each category creates separate category home
page
• Example: Art Deco Society of Los Angeles
Parsing Feeds by Category
RSS Option--Ditch the Blog!
• With Feed2Js, you can create link list content
without a blog
• Custom RSS is more flexible than blog RSS
• You can hand code it if you are comfortable with
HTML (it’s XML, but it will look pretty familiar)
• You can use a variety of freeware/cheapware RSS
feed editors
• Linked content can be any web page, podcast etc.
Suggested Use of Category Feeds
• Set up branch libraries as “Categories” on your blog
• Display all announcements on the Home Page
• Display branch relevant announcements on each
branch page
Quick Note on Podcasts
• Very hip, very cool, very happening, very now
• Easy to do
• Need digital recording hardware and software
(standard on new Macs--available for PCs)
• MP3 sound file + RSS feed = Podcast
• Do you have anything to say?
Current Applications
• Corporate Intranet announcements parsed by
location and department
• Library announcements
• Library “Hints & Tips” & “Cool websites”
• Meetings and user tests for development projects
• Record conference attendance (I’m blogging this)
Current non-applications
• Like, today I went to the gym--god I’m getting fat.
You know, I really think Brittany Spears is cool.
Fried twinkies--like what’s that all about blah, blah,
blah…
• Clearly this is another attempt by the liberal media to
advance the agenda of blah, blah, blah…
In the Pipeline at RAND
• Will be used by RAND Library to create “Subject
Resource Pages”
• Subject specialists maintain their subject pages
• Sort by assigned value rating (highest on top)
• Infinite detail under “More information” link
• RSS feed of “New stuff”
In the Pipeline Outside RAND
• Will be used by Art Deco Society of Los Angeles to
create database of local architecture
• Will include photographs and “More information”
links
• Categories used to create browsable lists
• Multiple authors add to database without risk of
“breaking it”
SIRSI Related Uses
• EPS allows you to present a search as an RSS feed
- dynamically updated
• Third party tools can squeeze RSS feeds of new
accessions and other things from UNICORN - EPS
not required
• As RSS tools proliferate, new ways will be suggest
themselves for presenting SIRSI content throughout
your website
Key Points
• Blog software allows any authorized person to add
content to web pages of infinite variety
• Unskilled users won’t mess up your website
• Feed2JS allows you to simultaneously post link list
content to everywhere you pasted the JavaScript
• Static feeds simplify list maintenance and also allow
patrons to “subscribe” to your resource lists
What’s the downside?
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Moveable Type is cheap
Feed2JS is free
Takes a little local labor and skill to set up
Downside risk: it doesn’t take off
Budgets aren’t broken, nobody gets fired
Hey, give it a shot
Proof of Concept on the Cheap
• Use hosted blog like Bloglines
• Use hosted Feed2JS
• See how it works for you (note: it will be slower in a
hosted mode)
• No cost, no software installation, no risk
Some Closing Cynicism
• Most “empowered” users don’t use their power
• Blogs languish if bloggers don’t contribute
• Podcasts are useless to those who have nothing to
say
• Don’t rely on broad staff participation
• Success or failure will come from a few active
loudmouths and not the passive, apathetic majority
Questions?
How to reach me
• Walter Nelson: [email protected]
• walternelson.com