Internet2 RSS News Feeds
Want to be the first to get Internet2's headlines as soon as they are published?
Want to find a way to save time if you read many websites? This FAQ will show
you how, and will answer some of the common questions about Internet2's new
news feeds.
- What
is a news feed?
- How
do I subscribe to Internet2's news feeds?
- What
is a news reader?
- Should
I use a news reader?
- What
is RSS?
- What
is syndication?
- Where
can I find out more about syndication?
What is a news feed?
A news feed (also known as an RSS feed) is a listing of a website's content.
It is updated whenever new content is published to the site. News readers "subscribe" to
news feeds, which means they download lists of stories at an interval that
you specify (every 30 minutes, for example), and present them to you in your
news reader. A news feed might contain a list of story headlines, a list of
excerpts from the stories, or a list containing each story from the website
(Internet2's news feeds contain story excerpts). All news feeds will have a
link back to the website, so if you see a headline / excerpt / story you like,
you can click on the link for that piece of content and will be taken to the
website to read it.
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How do I subscribe to Internet2's news feeds?
Step one is to download your favorite news reader. If you have never used
one before, try installing one of the news readers mentioned
below and see which one you like.
Point your news reader to the addesses below for each feed you want to subscribe
to.
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What is a news reader?
A news reader (also known as a news aggregator) is simply a piece of software
that you can use to read your subscribed news feeds. It is to news feeds what
Outlook, Hotmail, and Entourage are to email.
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Should I use a news reader?
The short answer: it depends.
The longer answer: if you visit a lot of websites on daily basis, or read
a lot of weblogs (or "blogs"), a news reader can save you a lot of time. Sites
like EDUCAUSE, Salon,
and the New
York Times all have syndicated feeds.
Using a news reader to consume your web media means that you only need to
visit a website when you read a story in your news reader that is of interest
to you. You won't have to visit many sites multiple times every day to see
if there are updates; your news reader will do that for you and will let you
know when there is a new story to be read!
So if you visit a lot of websites regularly, or want to be alerted automatically
when your websites publishes a new story, using a news reader might make sense.
Some commonly used news readers are Feed
Demon, Sharp Reader,
and NewsGator (an
Outlook plugin) for Windows, NetNewsWire and Shrook for
Macs, and Bloglines.com for
those who like web-based readers.
You can find even more news readers at itopik.com.
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What is RSS?
Depending on whom you ask, the acronym RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication", "Rich
Site Summary", or any of a handful of others.
The meaning of the acronym is not terribly important, however. An RSS feed
(also known as a news
feed) is a site's syndicated news feed that you subscribe to using your
news reader.
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What is syndication?
Syndication refers to the process that occurs when a publisher provides
content in a form that can be consumed by software (like a news reader).
The concept is similar to email: your Yankees-hating buddy Bob (the publisher)
writes you an email about Derek Jeter's partying habits (the content). Your
favorite email program (the software) receives the email, and probably alerts
you with gentle "You've got mail!"
With a syndicated Internet2 feed, it works like this: Internet2 (the publisher)
publishes a story about Peyton Manning and Steve McNair sharing the NFL MVP
award (the content). Your favorite news reader (the software) sees that Internet2
has published a new story, and probably alerts you with a flashing icon on
your screen.
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Where can I find more about syndication?
There is a thorough explanation of syndication at Dynamic
Objects.
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