What is this RSS stuff I sometimes read about?

RSS is an abbreviation that stands for, well, a variety1 of different things, depending upon whom you ask, but which translates for the user into a subscription to a particular website that notifies you not only that the site has updated its content but what that new content is. What does that do for you? Imagine that there are six websites that you check on a regular basis to see if there are interesting new things posted. Depending upon how important you think seeing that new content at its freshest is to you, you might need to check all six of those sites every day, or even more often. That's a lot of remembering and clicking, and for sites that perhaps update only every week or so, there may not be a lot of reward for so many clicks other than knowing that you're not missing something new. Now contrast this to the idea of opening one webpage every day to check on all six sites. Or checking in a special folder of your browser (the program you use to see the Internet, like Firefox or Internet Explorer). Or starting up a special program that lives on your own computer that checks on those six sites for you. Or getting that page content emailed to you. And, obviously, for every new subscription that you add, the savings in time and effort grows. Not all websites offer RSS feeds, specially coded files that provide the information the user receives in response to their subscription. Many government entities and blogs, however, do offer feeds and the number of sites offering this service is growing every day. The information that can now come to you, instead of you going to it, just keeps getting richer. How do you take advantage of these riches even if you're not a geek? It turns out to be surprisingly simple and, even better, mostly free. Here are some of the tools you can use, covering the various categories of RSS feed readers (also called RSS aggregators because they aggregate, or group, all of your feed subscriptions). Web-based readers These include services such as Bloglines, Google Reader, NewsGator, and many more. To use these services, you typically sign up for a free account, generating a login and password that are validated by clicking on an emailed link. You then are given a member page address that you can bookmark, like this one for a Bloglines account: http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs. Using one of these services, you can read your feeds from any internet-enabled computer anywhere, so long as you remember your login and password. Once you have this account established, there are several methods for subscribing to website feeds; these directions are spelled out in each service's help files online. Going back to the Bloglines example, for instance, you can copy and paste the address of a site you want to subscribe to into a formfield on your Bloglines page and click a "subscribe" button to add it to your subscriptions list. Some sites, like this one, make it even easier by including a "subscribe with bloglines" button on their page (look at the bottom of the lefthand column). However you subscribe, once you've got a subscription you'll find that whenever you return to your account page, bold text tells you that a particular site has been updated. Click on that site name, and you can read the full updated information right there in the Bloglines window. Each service is a little different in the details, but they all work roughly the same way. Desktop-based readers These are programs that you download and install on your computer to manage and read your RSS subscriptions. Some work on most any kind of computer, some are for Macs, and some are for Windows. As with any programs, some are easier to set up and use than others and some will suit your own way of organzing your work better than others. If you subscribe to feeds using a desktop reader, you can read your feeds only on computers that you have installed the program and your reading list on. As with most online readers, many of the desktop programs are free. Browser-based subscriptions Several programs you may already have will also function as RSS feed aggregators. The internet browser program Firefox detects sites offering feeds and puts a special orange icon like this at the end of the address bar to indicate an available feed; clicking on that icon produces a subscription window that allows you to file a "livemark" that shows up in your bookmarks and indicates updated content. The next version of Internet Explorer, 7, is reported to be adding that functionality as well. There are also toolbars and extensions you can add to whatever browser you use that subscribe and display your subscriptions. Emailed feeds There are even services you can subscribe to that email you site updates or update summaries, although some of them may be limited to only some special sites and information. I'm ready--now where are those RSS-feeding sites? Why not begin right here? The Seldovia Public Library blog, like most blogspot sites, offers a feed of all its updates, using the url http://seldovialibrary.blogspot.com/atom.xml. Subscribe to this feed and every time we update the site, you'll get things like lists of all of the new books we've added to the collection with links to broader descriptions and reviews. You can also subscribe to public notices from the City of Seldovia at http://seldovia.blogspot.com/atom.xml. Want more? Almost anything from comics (but try checking the pages for individual strips as well, since many of them have feeds these days) to news (like NPR) to higher levels of government and government services (check here or here for leads to finding helpful rss feeds). You can often determine whether the sites you regularly read offer feeds by the RSS icon or the XML icon (this is an earlier version, gradually being replaced by the RSS-specific icon) or something similar. Unfortunately, neither the Kenai Peninsula Borough nor the State of Alaska have current plans to offer RSS feeds for things like public notices or ferry schedule changes, but it doesn't hurt to contact the state webmaster (webmaster@state.ak.us) or borough clerk (sbiggs@borough.kenai.ak.us;sessert@borough.kenai.ak.us) to add to public demand for them. Still sound pretty confusing? Stop by the library on a Saturday and we can give you a demo and help you get something set up. 1 Like Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication