Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
This is an interesting discussion covering many topics in one thread. But I have a suggestion for Jude - if you are trying to give a simple explanation of RSS, don't use the word metadata and especially not without an attempt to define it. In your enthusiasm you confound the problem instead of addressing it. If someone does not understand RSS it is unlikely they will understand that term. So here's my attempt to help Pamela, and other readers of the list: DAVE'S RSS PRIMER An RSS feed is really a list of the information about a particular page of a website. Because it is usually a digest - as little as the titles or headlines of the stories - it can be scanned very quickly in a newsreader, a program which serves as a small browser of these lists. Like an email program, the newsreader also keeps track of which items you have already read, and often lets you know when there are additions to the list since the last time you read it. The newsreader usually has two windows - one with a list of all the sites whose feeds you are monitoring, and a second which displays the headline list when you click on the site name in the first window. When you see a headline you are interested in, you click on that headline and it opens the complete story, usually in your regular browser's window. You subscribe to a feed either by dragging the orange button that you see on the page into your newsreader, or by copying the URL that it links to (copy link location, usually a right click on the button) and then pasting it into a dialog box that the newsreader provides for adding new feeds. If you simply click on one of those orange buttons, the XML file, which the newsreader uses to show headlines, will open up in your browser - giving you a sudden look at the heart of the system. This is just a text file, with code surrounding the headline and other information, often an excerpt. It may include the full text of every item. Some people like to have the full story included in the feed itself, since they can read the whole item in their newsreader without opening it up in a browser. In recent months the word podcast has come into the RSS world. It is used fairly loosely - Andy Carvin is using it to refer to either the uploading of an audio file to a server - to podcast - or the audio file itself - a podcast - which is most often an mp3 file but can also be a wav file or any other audio format. But if you find a website offering a podcast, it will often be an RSS feed with mp3 enclosures. All this means is that one or more of those items in the list will have not just a title but an enclosure tag, referring to an mp3 file. If you were to open that XML file in your browser and look at it, you would see the word enclosure there amidst all the code for each mp3 file that is in the feed. Why is this useful? Because you can subscribe to a podcast feed with a specialized version of a newsreader that is generally called an iPodder. That little program will automatically do the following: Periodically load the XML file from the website Find the enclosure tags Go to the website that supplied the XML file Download the mp3's AND load them into your iPod. Now you are not even scanning the newsfeeds for items of interest. It's more like having your own assistant who is checking with all your favorite radio stations and loading up your iPod with anything new, so that you have it ready for your morning commute or your trip to the gym. These radio stations can in reality be any individuals who can record an audio message and upload it to a website and make sure their RSS feed puts the audio file information in an enclosure. Or they can be actual radio broadcasts that are being made available in this format by radio outlets, as many are beginning to do - On the Media from NPR recently announced they would provide a podcast feed. If this all sounds a little complicated, it's because it is. No one has yet come up with a simple application for the podcast producer that can do the recording, the encoding (I didn't even mention the need for mp3 tags - similar to album, artist, genre - that are necessary to prevent the file from being lost in the thousands of songs on an iPod), the uploading, the generation of a feed with enclosures. For the listener/subscriber, iPodder programs are getting better, and newsreaders are starting to incorporate the same capability, but it still takes some headscratching to get it all working properly. So for now, if someone wants to make a regular podcast available, best practice would be to provide both the podcast feed with enclosures (the XML file) and a direct link to the mp3, so people wishing to simply download and listen to the file can do so. This direct link method has been around a long time, long before the words podcast or RSS enclosures. Call it a podcast if you like - it sounds catchy. Where is all this going? Enclosures can enclose any kind of file. They are already being used for video clips
Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
Am I the only person wondering what RSS stands for? I confess I am only dipping in and out of the DDN list anyhow so may have missed something - or perhaps its something that everyone knows (Maybe I'll suddenly realise as soon as I click on the send button to confess my ignorance ..) I don't need all the techie details - but would appreciate a sentence or two.. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
Hi Pam, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's that little XML button that you see often on blogs and news website. The button links to an RSS feed, which is a type of code that summarizes what's been posted on that site. If you cut and paste the RSS feed into email software like Thunderbird or blog reading tools like bloglines.com and my.yahoo.com, you can subscribe to the blog or news site and have its content come to you directly. I posted a tutorial on RSS last month; you can find it here: http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=68 thanks, ac Pamela McLean wrote: Am I the only person wondering what RSS stands for? I confess I am only dipping in and out of the DDN list anyhow so may have missed something - or perhaps its something that everyone knows (Maybe I'll suddenly realise as soon as I click on the send button to confess my ignorance ..) I don't need all the techie details - but would appreciate a sentence or two.. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. -- --- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com --- ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
Here is some information that may help you. NEWS: RESOURCES : INTERNET: MEDIA: What Is RSS? RSS Explained : RSS Resource Links http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/ wa?A2=ind0412L=NET-GOLDP=R65921I=-3 A shorter URL for the above link: http://snipurl.com/c7qk From the above post, here is this: RSS Definition in Webopedia http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RSS.html Short for RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary, an XML format for syndicating Web content. A Web site that wants to allow other sites to publish some of its content creates an RSS document and registers the document with an RSS publisher. A user that can read RSS-distributed content can use the content on a different site. Syndicated content includes such data as news feeds, events listings, news stories, headlines, project updates, excerpts from discussion forums or even corporate information. RSS was originally developed by Netscape. There is much more in this post on this topic of RSS. I also highly recommend this post and the content of the librarian whose website is highlighted in this post. Date: Sat, 15 May 2004 07:26:29 -0400 (EDT) From: David P. Dillard To: Temple Gold Discussion Group Subject: [NetGold] INFORMATION SCIENCE: CURRENT AWARENESS: RESOURCES: Steven J. Bell's Keeping Up Web Site http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/ wa?A2=ind0408L=NET-GOLDP=R61661I=-3 A shorter URL for the above link: http://snipurl.com/c7qm I think that my friend and listmate George Lessard's post on this topic may put an interesting light on this topic of value to the Digital Divide perspective on the internet. Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 11:52:29 -0600 From: George Lessard Reply-To: [log in to unmask] To: L ABORIGINAL JOURNALISTS Cc: Creative Radio List Subject: [Net-Gold] We're All Journalists Now http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0408L=NET-GOLDP=R30722I=-3 And here is another post that has links that teach about RSS. Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 22:27:06 -0400 (EDT) From: David P. Dillard Reply-To: To: Net-Gold Subject: [Net-Gold] INTERNET: SERVICES: RSS: RSS Clearly Explained: Countdown to RSS, the Gateway Technology http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/ wa?A2=ind0406L=NET-GOLDP=R70799I=-3 A shorter URL for the above link: http://snipurl.com/c7qu I hope these links will be helpful to those learning about RSS for the first time as well as those wishing to learn more about this new version of the old concept of SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information) that databanks pioneered as a way of keeping subsrcibers to the databanks aware of new literature published on topics they were researching. By the way asking questions is not only far from ignorance in any sense, without questions, reference librarians would go out of existence. The messages above that I posted regarding sources that explain what RSS is and how it is used are resources that I collected to find out for myself more about RSS. By the way, all Yahoo Groups are available in RSS as well as the normal discussion group format. Yahoo Groups http://groups.yahoo.com Here is the explanation on the Net-Gold site for this form of provision of discussion group content. Net-Gold RSS http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/rss Here is an excerpt from this page. RSS RSS Help What is RSS? RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for distributing web content (such as news headlines or new content in your group). You can use RSS to read or display recent group messages on another location of your choice. Here are some examples: Read messages on My Yahoo! Read messages in an RSS reader, or a news aggregator. Display messages in your web log (otherwise known as blog) for others to see. Thanks for asking and have a great weekend. Sincerely, David Dillard Temple University (215) 204 - 4584 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html http://www.LIFEofFlorida.org World Business Community Advisor http://www.WorldBusinessCommunity.org On Fri, 21 Jan 2005, Pamela McLean wrote: Am I the only person wondering what RSS stands for? I confess I am only dipping in and out of the DDN list anyhow so may have missed something - or perhaps its something that everyone knows (Maybe I'll suddenly realise as soon as I click on the send button to confess my ignorance ..) I don't need all the techie details - but would appreciate a sentence or two.. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
I'd also recommend Wikipedia's entries for RSS and podcasting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28protocol%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting ac Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/ - ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
This message is cheering and amusing to me at the same time. There has been, if you will pardon a divergent use of a phrase, a digital divide about the Wikipedia between academic purists on the one hand who consider the Wikipedia very suspect because since anyone can change its contents, it must have many and huge inaccuracies. On the other side of this digital divide are many practitioners and professionals from a wide variety of fields including many who work in computer and internet related fields who use this tool constantly. I have used this tool extensively in posts that I have sent on a variety of topics and I have used it for facts and information to support the content of the posts in question. As with any source of information, one must check information carefully if the document or content to be shared is important. Notwithstanding, incorrect information is not found only in popular and internet resources, academic journals have had a major share of hoaxes and falsifications not to mention common ordinary garden variety mistakes or errors. REFERENCE: ENCYCLOPEDIAS: [MEDIEV-L:4] RE: Wikipedia : [ Should the Consumer Product Safety Commision Put a Warning Label on the Wikipedia? ] http://snipurl.com/c7uu Tis a real pleasure to read the words Wikipedia and good in the same sentence and a big thanks to Andy Carvin for putting them there. I wonder how much use of the Wikipedia has been made by those who are vocal in criticizing the tool, and how much of the criticism is based on assumption or second hand information. Sincerely, David Dillard Temple University (215) 204 - 4584 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html http://www.LIFEofFlorida.org World Business Community Advisor http://www.WorldBusinessCommunity.org On Sat, 22 Jan 2005, Andy Carvin wrote: I'd also recommend Wikipedia's entries for RSS and podcasting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28protocol%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting ac Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/ - ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
Thanks, David, I appreciate it. Despite what many critics say about wikipedia, when it comes to Internet-related subjects like podcasting, there are few, if any, resources that do a better job defining the concept than wikipedia. It's often because the people involved in developing the technologies then contribute to wikipedia as well. -ac ps - Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales spoke today at the Berkman conference. In case you missed the live webcast, I've posted a podcast on my mobcasting blog. http://mobcasting.blogspot.com David P. Dillard wrote: This message is cheering and amusing to me at the same time. There has been, if you will pardon a divergent use of a phrase, a digital divide about the Wikipedia between academic purists on the one hand who consider the Wikipedia very suspect because since anyone can change its contents, it must have many and huge inaccuracies. On the other side of this digital divide are many practitioners and professionals from a wide variety of fields including many who work in computer and internet related fields who use this tool constantly. I have used this tool extensively in posts that I have sent on a variety of topics and I have used it for facts and information to support the content of the posts in question. As with any source of information, one must check information carefully if the document or content to be shared is important. Notwithstanding, incorrect information is not found only in popular and internet resources, academic journals have had a major share of hoaxes and falsifications not to mention common ordinary garden variety mistakes or errors. REFERENCE: ENCYCLOPEDIAS: [MEDIEV-L:4] RE: Wikipedia : [ Should the Consumer Product Safety Commision Put a Warning Label on the Wikipedia? ] http://snipurl.com/c7uu Tis a real pleasure to read the words Wikipedia and good in the same sentence and a big thanks to Andy Carvin for putting them there. I wonder how much use of the Wikipedia has been made by those who are vocal in criticizing the tool, and how much of the criticism is based on assumption or second hand information. Sincerely, David Dillard Temple University (215) 204 - 4584 --- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com --- ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
Andy, et. al., And the print journalists probably should still see themselves as print journalists. With only a 5% penetration of RSS, it is hardly a clarion call to change mindsets. As a longtime journalist, I also can tell you that as the concentration shifts, the media will shift; as the revenue potential becomes clearer, the media will shift. Certainly, newsrooms are struggling with the challenges of news presentation. Media concentration makes change harder for them because of the layers of bureaucracy. On a similar note, though, most newspapers still have not figured out how to use even the basics of the internet engine effectively. they are sticking to their old models and just hooking modules of internet stuff without a real plan. RSS is too small a concept right now for them. I also would say that community-level journalism, while it *could* become the achilles heel of journalism, is not likely any time soon to be anyhting that could be even slightly considered a threat, the tsunami response notwithstanding. There is a lot one could say about what makes journalism work. It is a difficult business. Sustaining even somewhat objective, credible reporting over time is expensive and requires ongoing training. Writing is not just a matter of sitting down and pouring thoughts into a blog. The value is in the credibility; the revenue value is in the reach. I'd say there might be a greater risk in information fragmentation and loss of credibility than anything else. But I will stop now. === Stephen Snow, MA, National Certified Counselor [EMAIL PROTECTED] Where love stops, power www.commcure.com begins, and violence 704.569.0243 and terror. -- CG Jung -- Artist-Blacksmith Assn. of N. America (www.abana.org) Assn. For Community Networking (www.afcn.org) Charlotte Folk Society (www.folksociety.org) Int'l Society for the Study of Dissociation (www.issd.org) Si Kahn (www.sikahn.com) One Special Christmas (www.onespecialchristmas.org) GROW BY GIVING: VOLUNTEER === - Original Message - From: Andy Carvin [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Ja ten Doesschate [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 1:48 PM Subject: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge? That may indeed be true, but Rosen's point was that the majority of staff there still seem themselves as print journalists rather than online journalists -ac Ja ten Doesschate wrote: POI in relation to these comments - According to a Times editor, The New York Times [bastion of white upper class readers] now puts more effort into its online site because it has had more readers online then in print for quite awhile now. Ja Young */Andy Carvin [EMAIL PROTECTED]/* wrote: Sounds like RSS feeds will be one of the next major ICT literacy challenges for the general public, particularly when only five percent of people on the Net use RSS and they tend to be white, well-off, and very well educated, according to the folks at Pew. It will take this particular technology literacy (RSS savviness) for people to achieve media literacy and be well-informed as more journalism and civic discourse is produced for the Internet rather than broadcast or print -ac Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term' http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=30648/*http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/ji bjabinaugural.html -- --- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com --- ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Re: [WWWEDU] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
Well... as sort of an 'online journalist', I might be able to add value to this. Journalism is journalism. The media through which journalism works is largely irrelevant except when it comes to audience. So it's not about 'online journalism' or 'print journalism' at all, it's simply about 'online audience' and 'print audience'. So I don't buy into this whole 'online journalism' schenanigan. It's hype. Where the rubber meets the road, it's about audience. On the web, that translates to how writers and publishers can make money - just like printed media. It's different in that aspect alone as far as most businesses are concerned. Treating both as separate is not sensible, since many members of society are in both audiences. The problem is - within the context of the Digital Divide - that there are a lot of people who are not a part of the 'online audience'. With an interesting twist. Journalism that uses online media has the capacity for more involvement than print media. This is especially important in the context of the Digital Divide, because the digital divide itself is not just about business. It's really about participation, and online media will benefit if more people are... online. The key to success of online media is the same key to success of what is now known as the digital divide. RSS feeds are nice, but they also suck in a lot of ways. Finding what you want when you want it has actually become a lot more difficult. So while I'll advocate RSS feeds, I'll also tell people to not expect that they will save the world... they simply bring new problems, like every other advance. Andy Carvin wrote: That may indeed be true, but Rosen's point was that the majority of staff there still seem themselves as print journalists rather than online journalists -ac Ja ten Doesschate wrote: POI in relation to these comments - According to a Times editor, The New York Times [bastion of white upper class readers] now puts more effort into its online site because it has had more readers online then in print for quite awhile now. Ja Young */Andy Carvin [EMAIL PROTECTED]/* wrote: Sounds like RSS feeds will be one of the next major ICT literacy challenges for the general public, particularly when only five percent of people on the Net use RSS and they tend to be white, well-off, and very well educated, according to the folks at Pew. It will take this particular technology literacy (RSS savviness) for people to achieve media literacy and be well-informed as more journalism and civic discourse is produced for the Internet rather than broadcast or print -ac Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term' http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=30648/*http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/jibjabinaugural.html -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxgazette.com http://www.a42.com http://www.worldchanging.com http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net Criticize by creating. Michelangelo ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
