Current Awareness Services - Setting up RSS
Current Awareness
Background
"RSS" stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and is a file format used on the Internet for packaging information from one site or application to be easily incorporated into another site or application. This process is usually referred to as "syndicating" a site, or providing an RSS "feed." The official technical specification for RSS has much more detail on the format and usage of RSS feeds.
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Briefly, RSS provides automatic notification when new content is added to a website. A few examples are:
- notice of upcoming campus events (Using RSS at Bowdoin lists feeds provided by the college);
- daily news summaries from the Chronicle of Higher Education;
- new book reviews from The New York Times.
Because the goal of RSS feeds is flexibility, there are many ways that you can incorporate RSS-based information into your day-to-day information gathering workflow. Choosing your "feeder" will depend on your individual needs and circumstances. For example, will you always access your RSS information from a single computer? Would you like to incorporate RSS into your regular email client? Listed below are four of the more popular methods of setting up RSS feeds, with related advantages and disadvantages. Step-by-step procedures are not included here; instead please check your program's help section (look for keywords like "reader" or "rss" or "live bookmarks"). As always, don't hesitate to ask for assistance.
1. Using E-mail Clients
Modern E-mail client software is beginning to take advantage of the similarity of RSS to traditional e-mail lists for distributing periodically updated information. Mozilla Thunderbird now allows you to create a collection of folders containing RSS feeds. New information in the feed appears in the reader very much like a new e-mail message. While the Office 2003 version of Microsoft Outlook does not have RSS reading features, there are third party plugins for Office that provide this feature. RSS integration is included in the upcoming 2007 version.
Advantages:
- Integrates seamlessly into an application you may already use on a daily basis
- Feeds are organized inside separate folders, just as you might do with your regular email
- Apart from opening your email software, no action is needed on your part - feeds will be automatically updated
- Individual items from a feed can be kept indefinitely
Disadvantages:
- Your feeds are kept on a single computer
2. Using Web Browsers
Because RSS is primarily a web-based file format,
it makes sense that web browsers are becoming RSS
aware. Many will now alert you that a web site contains
subscribable feeds (look for the RSS icon 
in the address bar of your browser). Mozilla
Firefox will let you add RSS feeds to your Bookmark
list, with new RSS feed items showing up as an automatically
updated collection of bookmark links. The default
Mac browser "Safari" will even let you incorporate
RSS feed items into a screensaver.
Advantages:
- Integration with a frequently used application
- Provides a direct link between the information in the RSS feed and the actual web pages to which they point.
Disadvantages:
- Your feeds are kept on a single computer
- Display customization options usually very limited
3. Using Stand-alone RSS "Aggregators"
The rise in popularity of the RSS file format has given birth to a new type of computer application specifically designed for retreiving, consolidating and displaying RSS-based information. They normally provide a wide range of options for how the information is displayed.
Examples: SharpReader, FeedReader, NewsGator, RSS Bandit, NetNewsWire for Macintosh
Advantages:
- Usually offer more options than other types of readers, such as how feeds are displayed, how often they are refreshed, and the ability to group feeds into customized categories
- Can generally download information from feeds to the local computer for offline reading
Disadvantages:
- Your feeds are kept on a single computer
4. Using Online "Aggregators"
As an alternative to using stand-alone aggregators that you run on your local computer, there are now web sites that let you create an account and subscribe to your favorite RSS feeds via a web page.
Examples: Bloglines, Google Reader
Advantages:
- Your feeds are stored on a remote server, so you can access them from any computer
- Easy integration between feed information and pages to which they refer
- Many popular RSS reading sites have browser plug-ins / buttons for easy subscription to feeds.
Disadvantages:
- Privacy issues involved in having a third party know to which feeds you subscribe
- Generally fewer display options.
This page created and maintained by The Library Web Team. Last update: November, 2006.