How to syndicate your Web site: new technology makes it really simple to let interested constituents know when you have something new on your Web site. And it only takes five minutes to get started.A new technology that has incredible potential for legislators is taking the World Wide Web by storm. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) A syndication format that was developed by Netscape in 1999 and became very popular for aggregating updates to blogs and the news sites. RSS has also stood for "Rich Site Summary" and "RDF Site Summary. technology-or Really Simple Syndication--allows you to "push" the latest information about legislative activity, campaign events or community information to those who have subscribed. What's unique about RSS is that the technology is actually true to its name--it is incredibly simple to get started. In a matter of minutes A Matter of Minutes is an episode from the television series The New Twilight Zone. Cast
1. tweak - To change slightly, usually in reference to a value. Also used synonymously with twiddle. your legislative or campaign Web site so that hotlinks to your new press releases, calendar, legislative district information or key issues can be automatically sent to subscribers with RSS readers across the Web. The popularity of RSS is growing exponentially, primarily because the technology can be used to track changes on Web sites without a user having to visit your site to check for updates. This "push" technology allows legislators to keep their constituents and supporters informed with the most up-to-the-minute information. You've probably seen invitations to subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day" subscribe, take buy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; an RSS feed--little orange tags See syndication format. with "RSS" or "XML XML in full Extensible Markup Language. Markup language developed to be a simplified and more structural version of SGML. It incorporates features of HTML (e.g., hypertext linking), but is designed to overcome some of HTML's limitations. "--on virtually every type of Web site you visit. When you click on these tags, Web pages tied to them will automatically send you updates in the form of hotlinked headlines. While RSS readers may sound complicated, they generally resemble everyday portal Web sites, which track news stories from a number of sources, and Place hotlinks to those stories on a single page. Indeed, the RSS reader officially went mainstream late last year, when mega portal My Yahoo! (http:/my.yahoo.com/s/ rss-faq.html), a site used by millions worldwide to follow news and information, added RSS-tracking to its arsenal of Web data gathering tools. In addition, third-party products like RSS-Explorer (http:/rssexplorer.planet-hood.com) are enabling even the most casual users of Web to add a toolbar A row or column of on-screen buttons used to activate functions in the application. Many toolbars are customizable, letting you add and delete buttons as required. Toolbars may be fixed in position or may float, which means they can be dragged to a more convenient location in the to Internet Explorer Microsoft's Web browser, which comes with Windows starting with Windows 98. Commonly called "IE," versions for Mac and Unix are also available. Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser on the market. It has also been the browser engine in AOL's Internet access software. that instantly makes the popular browser RSS-ready. Also fueling mainstream acceptance of RSS are sites like IceRocket (http://rss.icerocket.com), which offer easy steps to generate the tiny strip of code you need to make a Web page RSS-readable. (IceRocket offers the service free-of-charge as a way to encourage use of its main products, its Web search engine See Web search engines. .) HOW IT WORKS If you're interested in adding RSS to your legislative or campaign site, a good place to start is IceRocket's RSS builder (http:/rss.icerocket.com). It's a free tool that enables you to generate an RSS link for your site in about five minutes. Essentially, creating the link takes four steps: Registration, Channel Creation, Item Creation and Publishing. Once you're through, anyone looking to track changes to the page you've RSS-enabled will be able to do so by adding the link to their reader. Most likely, you'll find that you'll breeze through IceRocket's first step--Registration--in seconds. All the company asks for is your e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address , a password you'd like to use, and your first and last name. Once you're in, you'll be asked to create a channel, which is used by RSS distribution sites to send your RSS link across the Web. Creating a channel involves a few, simple inputs: your Web site name, URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. , a brief description, your home page, your e-mail, and any copyright information you'd like to add. Once your channel is created, you can begin adding links to specific items--such as press releases, white papers, new Web brochures, and the like. Here, all that IceRocket requires is a title for the item, a URL, a brief description of the item and your e-mail address. The last step is handled automatically by IceRocket. It auto-generates the code for a tiny RSS icon, which can be cut-and-pasted onto your Web site where your item appears. The icon serves as a heads-up for anyone using an RSS-reader--or anyone using an RSS-capable portal like My Yahoo!--that changes to your site can be tracked with RSS. That's it. With those four steps completed, you've just created an "RSS feed Summaries of Web site content that are published in the RSS format for download. See RSS. ," and your site has joined the ranks of tens of thousands of others--including The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times, CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. , The Washington Post and About.com--that have decided to broaden their reach by making their sites readable to the RSS community. (If IceRocket doesn't suit your fancy, you can find any number of other, free RSS Builders by entering "RSS builder" into any search engine.) TRACKING YOUR SITE Even though IceRocket's RSS Builder is virtually goof-proof, you'll probably want to spend a little extra time making sure the feed is picked up by all the major RSS news aggregators and readers. A news aggregator is very similar to an e-mail reader See e-mail program. like Outlook Express, in that it pulls together data sent to subscribers in a centralized location on your PC, or on a custom Web page. Generally, news aggregators collect the data sent to RSS subscribers in the form of clickable clickable adj (COMPUT) → cliqueable clickable adj → cliccabile , hotlinked headlines. Many RSS subscribers, for example, use them to collect word of the release of e-newsletters or e-press releases. If they want to read it, they simply click on the headline, and are brought to a Web page featuring the entire document. A few of the major RSS news aggregators are: * Syndic SYNDIC. A term used in the French law, which answers in one sense to our word assignee, when applied to the management of bankrupts' estates; it has also a more extensive meaning; in companies and communities, syndics are they who are chosen to conduct the affairs and attend to the 8 (www.syndic8.com) * Complete RSS (www.completerss.com) * Feedster Finder (feedfinder.feedster.com) Each of these sites will offer a link you can click on where you can enter the URL of your site to make sure it is being picked up. You'll also want to double-check the readability of your RSS feed in a few, well- established RSS readers. Some of these include: * FeedDemon (www.feeddemon.com) * FeedReader (www.feedreader.com) * NewzCrawler (www.newzcrawler.com) * Bloglines (www.bloglines.com) Yet another group of sites, RSS search engines, specialize in searching out RSS content on the Web and bringing back summaries of the actual text being offered. A couple of these are: * Technorati (www.technorati.com) * Daypop (www.daypop.com) ADDITIONAL RSS RESOURCES Once you're involved with RSS, you'll probably want a deeper understanding of the technology. Here are some great sites to start you off: * RSS: What it is, Where to get it, How to make it, How to use it (http://interleaves.org/ -rteeter/rss.html#where): This is easily one of the most comprehensive informational sites available. It offers an excellent overview of the technology. * RSS: Your Gateway to News & Blog Content by Danny Sullivan For the search engine expert, see . Daniel John (Danny) Sullivan III (Born March 9, 1950 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a former racing driver from the United States. He is best known for winning the 1985 Indianapolis 500. (http://searchengine watch.com/ereport/article.php/2175281): One of the preeminent gurus on Internet search, Sullivan offers an outstanding, hands-on user's guide. Legislatures in the Forefront Many legislatures are at the forefront of the RSS popularity. Utah's has created an award-winning bill-tracking RSS feed (http://le.utah.gov/asp/billtrack/track.asp). Developed by Mark Allred, director of the Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, the feed tracks all bills and resolutions introduced during the legislative session. Utah's former Governor Olene Walker was so impressed with the service, she recognized the effort with the Utah 2004 CIO CIO: see American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. (Chief Information Officer) The executive officer in charge of information processing in an organization. Award for Digital Democracy. Still other legislatures using RSS include the Texas Legislative Counsel (www.capitol.state.tx.us/ tlo/pda/pda.htm), which has created RSS feeds for upcoming legislative calendars, committee meetings and the like. Rhode Island Rhode Island, island, United States Rhode Island, island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. (www.sec.state.ri.us/rss), which offers a do-it-yourself, build an RSS-link tool for users looking to track state legislative activity. And Hawaii (http://www.hawaii.gov/ Irb/reports/libdocs.html), Minnesota (http://www.leg.state.mn.us/Irl/rss/rss.asp) and Wisconsin (www.legis.state.wi.us/Irb/rss), which offers a number of RSS-enabled legislative news feeds, including legislative briefs and legislature publications. Other non-legislative government Web sites are also getting into the act. Virginia, for example, was recently awarded a 2004 Best of the Web Digital Government Achievement Award for its use of RSS, by the Center for Digital Government (www.centerdigitalgov.com). A longtime pioneer of the technology, the state currently offers more than 30 RSS news feeds, which are used by the general public to monitor changes to various facets of the Virginia.gov (www.virginia.gov/cmsportal/services_869/information_2656) Web site. Besides offering standard informational fare, such as RSS feeds for press releases, emergency notifications and "What's New," Virginia.gov's RSS service also keeps interested parties updated on changes to state forms, licenses, permits and the like. Meanwhile, Delaware.gov (http://delaware.gov/egov/portal.nsf/egovernment/newsfeeds) offers RSS-enabled information as well, including a continually updated database of news and press releases from a number of state agencies. One of Delaware's most popular feeds is their RSS newsfeed A collection of discussions or headlines that are published for distribution to the general public. See newsgroup and syndication format. of The Current Monthly Register, according to Ed McNeeley, a programmer with the Delaware Government Information Center. The feed tracks all of Delaware's proposed regulatory changes, general notices and final regulations emanating from the executive branch. Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , Calif. He is available at (805) 379-3673 and joe@joedysart.com. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion