3. Web services using RSS

What is RSS

RSS is an acronym meaning "Rich Site Summary" or more colloquially, "Really Simple Syndication".

The original markup language for putting content onto the web in a layed out form was HTML. Firstly the style was separated from the content, using CSS (cascading style sheets) so you could change the look of the text by changing the parameters in the style sheet. XML then separated the definition of the content (what's the header? what's the dotpoints? what's this chunk?) from the presentation template (XSLT). The template then allows what chunks to use and how to lay them out, depending on where you want that content to go. It may be a mobile phone interface, a website of varying complexity, or an audio text reader feed. XML expanded the possibilities for manipulating the content for a wider range of uses.

	content	layout	style
Original markup language	HTML
separated style from content into	DHTML		CSS
XML then separated content into layout and content	XML	XSLT (template)	CSS
RSS has implied template	RSS		CSS

RSS is a shared or common XML markup that goes the other way. It simplifies the chunk tags and the template instructions to deliver text content basically with four elements.

a header,
a link to further content,
an item of content and
sometimes a badging icon.

It is delivered as an automatically updating feed. The provider changes the content and the content updates in the reader. The reader can be a stand alone piece of software, an RSS enabled browser or an RSS reader enabled website.

The power of RSS simplification is the ability it provides to process enormous and unrelenting quantities of information at an ecletic level. "I'm interested in this, this and this items only and will investigate them further."

Blogs and Wikis

Blogs are an alternate simplification providing a simplistic content management system. You add content to a form and it updates the content on a page. Their uses are just being explored, but leading journalists use them to provide continuous copy they can edit and add to as story/ies develop. It's up to editors to take and edit what they want for use in their newspaper or news program. But the original commentary is often freely available.

And wikis go one step further by opening the blog to the public to manage! It is open to abuse, and management regimes take this into account. Back-ups can be restored and contributers blocked. It has tremendous collaborative power that can get amazing development through an open-source effort. See Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/) - a free content encyclopedia.

RSS Reading

Readers can be small pieces of software that run on your desktop as stand alone readers. You can get free RSS readers [news readers] from the Internet. RSS readers allow you to load and view the RSS feeds that you find useful.

Free RSS readers can be found at sites like TUCOWs at http://www.tucows.com/. Search for 'RSS reader' to obtain a list of freeware and shareware tools, or get an RSS reader from http://www.feedreader.com/

If you use the opensource Mozilla Firefox browser, there is an extension that takes five minutes to download and install, that turns your browser into an RSS reader as well. Highly recommended (opensource community) and elegant solution for a desktop reader. Take a look: http://sage.mozdev.org/rss.xml

XML powered websites are naturally able to take RSS feeds into their content pages. Some sites have introduced RSS readers software into some of their content pages.

In either of these cases the website can present content that is managed elsewhere. An example can be seen on the Industry portal training.com.au, where news and headline feeds from EdNA Online and from NCVER are rendered. View example http://www.training.com.au/anta/cda/page/news/0,,a1534_b3101_f-vet-news,00.html

RSS Uses

Rss is usful in enabling the client to scan much targeted information quickly. Some uses that are already employed include;

automatically updating news items
running commentaries
alerts on recent content added to databases
browsing categories of database content
search string results that automatically update.

Educational Context

EdNA Online provides a list of educational content feeds from its database. These are arranged under sector and type consisting of browse, search, recent items, calendar of events and news headlines (http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/page3153.html). EdNA Online also provides a list of "hot topics" such as elearning and bandwidth. It also provides resources for constructing RSS feeds and resources for developers wanting to manipulate delivery parameters.

Other feeds are available, ranging from NCVER to bloggy newsletters from Stephen Downes.