August 19, 2004
Please feel free to invite some of your colleagues from your or another city/county if you think it would benefit them to be a part of our group.
Location: City of Overland Park
(Meetings alternate monthly between MARC in
Kansas City and the City of Overland Park, KS.)
Attendance
City of Gladstone, MO........................ Kelli Behr
City of Kansas City,
MO..................... John Sims and Rich Lovett
City of Olathe....................................
Chris Holdman
City of Overland Park, KS................... (Chris Audano
and) Randy Ellis
City of Shawnee, KS.......................... Sonya Fendorf
Jackson County,
MO.......................... Dan Davis and Joseph P. Tanner
Johnson County,
KS.......................... Erica Reynolds and Karen Sorensen
MARC, KC Metro...............................
Barbara Hensley
The July minutes were approved. Chris Audano introduced the presenter.
Presentation: RSS Feeds
Daniel L. Davis is a Systems Analyst with the department
of Management Information Systems at Jackson County, Missouri (http://www.jacksongov.org).
His presentation sought to help us become familiar with an increasing popular
alternative for organizing and accessing information, RSS Feeds. He also
provided an online presentation to accompany his live presentation, http://www.jacksongov.org/MRSSC
. It’s divided into three sections: Introduction to RSS, The Ins and
Outs, plus Concepts and Strategies.
I. INTRODUCTION
RSS is simple way for sites to share and integrate information, automatically. Is RSS better than a list of links on a page? Perhaps! Dan’s presentation is an introduction to an RSS feed: what it is; how it came about; who uses it; what the code looks like; the RSS process; how MAGWeb members can use it; and how you can get started!
What it is
“RSS” is a hot term. You may have already noticed the
orange “RSS” (or
XML) buttons cropping up on sites. The acronym is short for Rich Site Summary
(or Really Simple Syndication); it is an XML format for syndicating Web content.
It’s related to blogging, a way of collecting links to pages you visit
often and making comments about them that other people can see. Similar
to traditional syndicated news stories and reporting, RSS redistributes news
and gives the source credit. In the case of RSS, the source of the information
is easily available.
How it came about
RSS is essentially a Web service, exposing information through
XML. A Web service is a new breed of Web applications due largely to the evolution
of cheaper bandwidth and storage plus more diversity of computing platforms,
devices and content. Web services, in general, perform functions, anything
from simple requests to complicated business processes. Once a particular Web
service is deployed, other applications (and services) can discover and invoke
the deployed service. As a Web service, RSS is essentially a kind of glue.
What the code looks like
RSS “raw” code looks like this: The first element in the document
is a <rss> element (mandatory); … followed
by a <channel> element (the main container for all RSS data); …followed
by the <title> element (either of the entire site if it's at the top
or of the current item if it's within an <item>); … the <link> element
(an URL of a Web page that corresponds to the RSS feed, or if it's within an <item>,
the URL to that item); …the <description> element (describes the
RSS feed or the item)…and finally, the <item> element (the meat
of the feed). These are all the headlines (<title>), URLs (<link>)
and descriptions that will be in a RSS feed.
On the most basic production level, Microsoft Notepad is all that is needed, as well as patience. (To enable your reader to view the code as a traditional page, a style sheet needs to be attached, usually done in a downloaded mini-browser.) The best way to create an RSS feed, however, is to use a tool such as a configurator to create the headlines, links and descriptions for you automatically. Then copy that code onto your website.
II. THE INS AND OUTS
There are various tools to know about when considering
the whole process from producer to distributor to user.
“Outbound”/Producing
1. As a person with a Web site wanting to
produce and distribute original information:
Creating “raw” RSS documents for others to access…will require a configurator (to transform the document into a RSS/XML coded format) and a validator (to double check the code works well).
“Inbound”/Acquiring and Reading
2. As a person with a Web site
wanting to share compiled information:
Creating a page that integrates your list of RSS feeds from other Web sites … will require a RSS Feeds Generator.
3. As an end user: Finding, accessing and sifting RSS documents or “feeds” … will require an aggregator, a kind of mini-browser mentioned earlier with a style sheet for reading XML documents built in. RSS feeds may show headlines only or show both headlines and summaries. (There are other display options, too.) Viewing graphics is optional.
There are three types of aggregrators: web-based aggregators, desktop/software aggregators and home-made. Web-based aggregators (the “best” i.e. Bloglines.com) allow individuals to sign up for the service and read their feeds online in just one site. There's no need to download and install any programs. Desktop/software aggregators require individuals to download and install a program to the computer. This type of aggregator usually has a lot more functions available to the user. A Home-made service, locally hosted and managed web service is the least utilized of the three.
“Outbound” again/Registering
4. As a person wanting to market
the information:
To inform (or “expose”) the world that your RSS document(s) exists, most Weblog tools will allow you to link your RSS feed file as an automatic option. You can also add a link using an XML button connecting to the RSS file. (Note: Spiders need help to find your syndication, however. Add the following HTML tag to the <head> of your document: <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="YOUR SITE TITLE RSS Feed" href="URL TO RSS FILE" /> .Also, consider listing your site on the major RSS news feeds or register your document with an RSS publisher. )
III. CONCEPTS AND STRATEGIES
How MAGWeb members can use it
General examples: syndicated content includes
such data as news feeds, events listings, news stories, headlines, project
updates, excerpts from discussion forums or even government and corporate information.
Specific example: Dan uses it internally at Jackson County to help IT personnel keep aware of the latest, pertinent Microsoft updates, especially concerning Service Pak 2.
Hypothetical example: Externally, county and city residents can be kept informed of various news and events. An example would be the West Nile virus. One RSS feed could announce a seminar on the West Nile Virus as a calendar item while another RSS feed could serve as an alert that there’s been a large outbreak of the virus.
See Dan’s recommended link: http://www.rssgov.com/ .
Open discussion
Members’ comments included:
- An end user must be knowledgeable beforehand to utilize RSS feeds.
- Some things, like RSS feeds, are worth the effort to manage.
- It’s not known how effective search engines are in finding RSS feeds.
- City and county governments are not mature enough technically to utilize RSS feeds; many don’t have Web sites yet.
- More planning is involved, but the payoff is another way to distribute your info and have users link back to your site for content.
- City and county governments can set up their own encrypted channels to communicate with one another without public access, such as with an area alert system.
- If we as a group standardized our information related to various events, we could feed it to the Johnson County Libraries’ KC Metro Area calendar.
Two good books:
XML in 21 Days: published by Sams; ISBN: 0672325764; $20-30.00.
Using XSLT:
published by Que; ISBN: 0789725053; $2.00 (used) – 30.00.
Old business
2004 Government Webmasters Conference Update
September 23-24, 2004, “Conference
2004”
Rich Lovett provided a quick update. A total of 189 people have registered. All discounted rooms at the Sheraton have been booked. The Courtyard Marriott, another nearby hotel, has offered a block of discounted rooms. It is important to get your registrations in. Seating is limited to 250 people. The fee is $150.00, continental breakfasts and lunches included. For more information, visit http://www.kcMAGWeb.org/Conference2004/ .
Other news
Susan Walters, longtime member of MAGWeb, gave birth to an 8 pound
boy, Thomas. Congratulations, Susan!
Upcoming meeting topics
In September, .NET will be presented by Microsoft.
Next meeting
Sept. 19, 2004, MARC.
Meeting minutes: Karen Lynne Sorensen, Johnson County Wastewater.