RSS: the latest feed
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830410570511 |
| Date | 01 December 2004 |
| Published date | 01 December 2004 |
| Pages | 404-413 |
| Author | Judith Wusteman |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
RSS: the latest feed
Judith Wusteman
The author
Judith Wusteman is based at the Department of Library and
Information Studies at University College Dublin, Ireland.
Keywords
Libraries, Information facilities, Internet, Computer applications,
Electronic publishing
Abstract
The number of library-related RSS and Atom applications is
increasing daily.But, as yet, the formats and technology involved
are far from stable. This article looks at the current state of the
field, discusses future developments and considers implications
for the library.
Electronic access
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is
available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
RSS emerges
RSS has been around since 1997 but relatively
little attention was paid to it until it became a
central component of the new craze of weblogging
or blogging. The RSS technology landscape is
confused. There isn’t even consensus as to the
meaning of the acronym RSS: is it Really Simple
Syndication, RDF Site Summary or Rich Site
Summary? Despite this, RSS is becoming
increasingly influential in the library where it is
recognised as a useful tool for a growing number of
tasks.
In essence, RSS is a simple XML syntax
for describing a channel or feed of recent
additions to a website. These additions may
be news items, blog updates, library acquisitions
or any other discrete information elements.
The RSS feed, in the form of an XML file, is
made available on the web site; a site with one or
more feeds is said to be syndicated. Users
subscribe to the feed using an aggregator or
newsreader that polls the site on a regular basis,
maybe once a week, maybe once every quarter
of an hour. The aggregator displays feeds and
enables users to organise them and to access
related Web pages when these are available. For
example, the New York Times circuits feed[1]
summarises the newspaper’s most recent
computer technology-related articles and provides
links back to NYTimes.com for the full article, as
illustrated in Figure 1. The aggregator shown is
SharpReader[2] which is free, simple to install and
intuitive to use.
Atom[3] is an increasingly popular rival to RSS.
Unless otherwise stated, comments in this article
concerning RSS are also relevant to Atom.
Library-related uses
The number of library-related uses of RSS is
increasingly exponentially[4], as illustrated by the
following subsections. The categories overlap in
places and, no doubt, new categories will have
appeared before this article is in print.
Library blogs
Blogs are web-based journals. Not surprisingly,
given the librarian’s role as communicator, there is
a proliferation of blogs in the library world. This is
illustrated by Peter Scott’s lengthening list of
Library Weblogs[5]. Fichter (2003) gives useful
practical advice on “Why and how to use blogs to
Library Hi Tech
Volume 22 · Number 4 · 2004 · pp.404-413
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited · ISSN 0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830410570511
Received: 13 August 2004
Revised: 15 August 2004
Accepted: 15 August 2004
404
To continue reading
Request your trial