Take a ride on the RSS train!
Imagine sitting down to watch a little TV only to be bombarded with flashing scenes from your favorite shows and news programs that are nearly drowned out by screaming commercials! Well that illustrates what is happening with our email Inboxes. Most of us with established email addresses have to endure wading through HUNDREDS of spam messages a day! Our eyes begin to glaze over as we quickly hammer our delete key deleting spam messages while trying to avoid deleting a message that may be important!

To further complicate matters, imagine that we are also interested in keeping up with a number of websites like of course NoBlood. Up until a few days ago, the primary way to stay current with the different discussions and topics on NoBlood was to either remember to visit regularly or be emailed with Site updates. I am happy to say that there is a better way.

We invite you to join us on the RSS train. Where are we going in this trip? Well, let’s take our TV illustration. Rather than being bombarded with random scenes from various programs that are nearly drowned out by screaming commercials, we can choose from a guide programs of interest to us. If we have the means to prerecord these programs, we can also better ‘manage’ the screaming commercials! Some are even copying their favorite programs on to their iPods and cell phones!!!

Back to the RSS train. By using RSS, you can tune in to and/or monitor ‘channels’ or RSS ‘feeds’ now offered by millions of sites! For example, you can tune into one of the RSS ‘feeds’ now provided by websites dealing with almost any subject! In your work, there may be websites that help keep you abreast of what is going on in your field. Using a RSS 'reader' will make your time spent with the computer much more focused and productive. Rather than having to visit these sites to ‘see’ what’s new since your last visit or needlessly cluttering your Inbox with email subscriptions, let’s take a ride together on the RSS train.

Also, please take our poll so we can get a feel for how familiar RSS to our users.

What is RSS?

RSS, short for "Really Simple Syndication," is a way of having articles, news, discussions, knowledge base updates delivered to your desktop. Icons, such as shown here, represent links to content in any format — text, audio or video — to which you can subscribe and read/watch/listen using a feed reader.

Why is RSS so useful?

Take for example NoBlood. Many people are interested in the topic of bloodless healthcare and would like to keep current with the latest topics, news and discussions hosted at NoBlood. However, repeatedly checking the website to check for new content or replies to ongoing forum discussions is very tedious.

Relying upon email notification of changes was an early solution to this problem. Unfortunately, email notifications from multiple websites, such as NoBlood, are usually disorganized and can be overwhelming and can be mistaken as spam.

Notifications of changes to multiple websites are handled easily, and the results are presented to you well organized and distinct from email.

What is an RSS reader?

A news reader (or aggregator) is the application used to view headlines via RSS. To download a news reader, select any number of readers or aggregators for free download through the following site: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/directory/5/aggregators

Why subscribe to RSS Feeds?

RSS can automate web surfing, create a virtual custom newspaper, and help you stay current in your areas of expertise or interest. There are millions of RSS feed files available. These RSS 'feeds' are regularly updated with a treasure trove of "what's new" information. Using an RSS reader, you can subscribe to these feeds and have topical information delivered to your desktop. You can create your own virtual newspaper by selecting the RSS feeds that you want to read. You can create a newspaper with AP news, health information, weather, and just the comics you want to see, or any other variety of content.

What types of RSS feeds does NoBlood provide?

At present, NoBlood provides two categories of RSS feeds.

• NoBlood Forum RSS Feeds
  • "> New Threads and Replies
  • Individual Forums (See also )
• NoBlood Wiki RSS Feeds
  • "> Recent changes
  • "> New pages
  • Individual wiki articles (See RSS icon next to the "history" tab at the top of any page)

How do I add a NoBlood RSS feeds to my reader?

To subscribe, look for the orange RSS icon on this page and elsewhere on the site. Mouse over the image, right-click, and copy the URL. (Choose "Copy Shortcut" for Internet Explorer, "Copy Link Location" for Netscape and Mozilla, or "Copy Link Address" for Opera). In your news reader, select the option that adds a new feed or channel, then paste in the URL and click OK.

News Aggregators and Resources (RSS)

Note: this is an incomplete list. While there are a variety excellent RSS readers, our focus here is to list in the order of the most recommended tools.

Windows Applications

• Outlook 2007 - $$$ (comes with Office 2007) Works best! But expensive.
• NewzCrawler - $24.95 - Works great!
• Awasu - $0-$59 - Powerful!
• GreatNews - Does NOT render wiki changes.
• FeedDemon - $29.99 - Does NOT render wiki changes

Instant Messenger RSS Alerts

• Anothr.com Instant updates via Skype messenger!

MAC Applications

• Vienna - Free - Works great!

Browser based

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 - Free! Works great!
• MAC Safari - Built in - Works great!
• Google Reader - Free - Works good, however seems sluggish when loading.
• Bloglines - Free - Does NOT render wiki changes

Easily and conveniently participate with RSS

Whether replying to a thread in the forum or helping to refine a definition, you play an important role. Here's how:

RSS using Microsoft Outlook 2007

Rather than having site update notices overwhelming your inbox, they can be organized in folders. Since NoBlood has more than one 'feed'/channel, they all can be channeled to a NoBlood folder.

• How to add a new feed

RSS using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7

IE 7's handling of RSS feeds is very impressive and responsive 'out of the box'. Click here to download Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.

A very important consideration when choosing a RSS reader

NoBlood extensively uses a 'wiki' for collaborating and publishing articles in its 'bloodless knowledge base'. The ability to 'monitor' articles is made possible by graphically presenting changes. Some of the popular browser-based RSS readers DO NOT render the colors that represent the changes made to wiki articles. This is a VERY IMPORTANT consideration. Notice how Google Reader renders a change that was made.

Some RSS readers do NOT show the colors that represent the changes that were made. Be sure to verify this before settling on one.

Now it's convenient to review and perhaps improve

In the above example, clicking on the "Polyheme" article link which will take you to the actual article. If you haven't already registered with the 'wiki', please create an account. If you are logged in, and you see something to correct or improve, just click on [edit] link to the right of the section OR the edit tab at the top of the page.

Why not take a test drive! Try making a test edit in our wiki ''.

See also

• Take a ride on the RSS train!
• Survey: The Blogs Are Growing! The Blogs Are Growing! Aug. 15, 2005
• O'Reilly XML.com
• Getting Started With RSS
• Marketers see opportunity as RSS gains users
• Feed & RSS Tools

References