Talk@Museum-Ed - Introduction to Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

RSS can stand for a couple of things, Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. Either way, it automatically generates "articles" and publishes them in a standardized XML format that can be read by software applications called "News Readers." In the case of the Museum-Ed Discussion List, the RSS feed contains the messages sent to the discussion list, each as a separate article listed with subject of the email as the article title and the body of the email as the content. See the example below.

News Readers automatically check for updates to RSS feeds on a regular schedule. Because of this, news feeds can have the appearance of being live, with the most recent additions taking precedence over past material. These unique capabilities allow users to build their own dynamic reading materials as "live newspapers" by picking news feeds and how they are displayed within the News Reader.

If you are new to RSS, you may be surprised by the wealth of RSS feeds available. With a quick search of the Web, you will discover that there are tens of thousands of feeds, ranging from personal blogs to major media outlets (almost all are free). RSS is likely to just be beginning of the next generation of personalized publication options. We encourage you to explore it and and see how it might help you better manage the plethora of resources at our finger tips on the Internet.

Selected RSS related articles and resources:

RSS Quickstart Guide (w/ links to leading free New Readers)
http://channels.lockergnome.com/rss/resources/articles/quickstart.phtml

NewsIsFree Syndication Service
http://www.newsisfree.com/about.php?what=feeds

RSS For Non-Techie Librarians
http://www.llrx.com/features/rssforlibrarians.htm

CNET: Internet services: RSS: news you choose
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10088_7-5143656.html

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