Transcript The University Office of Research

Using RSS Feeds and Portals
to Disseminate Research
Information
2006 SRA Midwest
Section Meeting
Rick Francis
The University of Toledo
University Office of Research
Why Should a Research Administrator
Learn about RSS Feeds?

Growing # of RSS Feeds for Research
 Display frequently-updated content -without the regular maintenance!
 Flexible applications:
– Your SRO web pages
– Portal Channels
– Researchers’ News/RSS Aggregators
What Will Be Covered Today

What is RSS?
 Examples for Research Administrators
 RSS Feeds in News Aggregators
 RSS Feeds on your SRO Web Pages
 RSS Feeds on Portal Channels
 Building Your Own RSS Feed
(Requirements)
What is RSS?
RSS = Really Simple Syndication
Without going to several sites, you can
have updated information from those
sites “pushed out” to your web site or
newsreader page. The updated
information comes to you!
Research-Related Examples

American Cancer Society News
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/NWS_10_RSS.asp

COS Funding News
http://research.utoledo.edu/COSRSS.htm

US Dept of Education
http://www.ed.gov/rss/edgov.xml
Typical Use of RSS Feeds:
News Readers, Aggregators

Individuals Select a News Reader (e.g.
NewsGator, MyYahoo or Enabled Browser
 Configure to taste
 Example using my.yahoo.com: add pages,
find and add RSS feeds
 Your assignment: configure one!
Tools for Locating
More RSS Feeds

Syndic8
http://www.syndic8.com
MyYahoo (“Add Content”)
http://my.yahoo.com


NewsIsFree
http://www.newsisfree.com/sources/bycat/
RSS Feeds on Your SRO Web

The Ugly Code Behind the RSS URL
 XML: Another TLA
 Do not be afraid! Easy tools to display on
your web pages: XML parsers!
 Use tools to generate the code to paste into
your HTML pages
RSS Feeds on Your Web Portal

You can use the same code generated in the
last step (if your campus portal does not
parse XML)
 Your web portal may permit targeted
content by discipline
Using Your Data to
Generate an RSS Feed

XML file can be generated by a script on an
Active Server Page (ASP)
 Coordination required to get (or establish)
account info for connection string to access
data, and web folder permissions to execute
code and write XML file
 What: Recent awards; announcements, etc.