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Week 4: Expose RSS!
Publicity: RSS Exposure
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This leads me to the point of publicity. Since learning about RSS aggregators, I have asked family, friends and colleagues whether they have heard of this technology. I have not conducted a wide survey, but no one I have spoken to knows what it is and if they have vaguely heard of it, they still do not know what it is (even if they’ve come across it in some form, as I have). It is such a great tool to have in any sort of capacity whether you are a student, researcher, librarian, or anyone at all who regularly looks for information online. One of the readings mentions that RSS is not known to many people. One of the problems is that ‘RSS’ is a rather vague term. I agree that use of terms such as ‘news reader’ is a good way to publicize RSS and allow more people to understand and recognize what it is.
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Case Studies
I found the Dublin City Public Library page quite confusing. There is too much going on in the site and I had a hard time navigating the site. I see some of the RSS icons around, but they don’t seem to be the active RSS links that I have been reading about. For an RSS novice, this would be very confusing. I cannot seem to find an explanation for RSS on the site. Some of the other web sites such as the Tacoma Public Library and the University of Oklahoma web site offer a brief blurb about RSS feeds. I think this is necessary because RSS is still new to many people and a short explanation helps to at least let people know what those little orange icons are called. I particularly like how the University of Oklahoma has made RSS feeds available for each of their disciplines. Oklahoma has a brief description of RSS and a clear, clean and simple looking setup for their RSS feeds.
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What you say about how most people don't know what RSS feeds are seems quite true. We had a brief discussion about this during class, and I must admit that while I knew what RSS was, I really didn't realize how wide-spread it was, and all of the different forms it could take!
"Everything I say is a lie...
... in fact, I'm lying to you right now..."
You bring up a lot of points that I mentioned in my own blog this week (or if I didn't say them, I know I thought about them!). I completely agree with you that "RSS" is such a vague term - not to mention the fact that the acronym stands for 2 or 3 different things at the very least - that it probably causes confusion in those who aren't very tech-savvy and so they avoid it. Perhaps most websites should have a page explaining what RSS is and what it can do for the user, or follow your suggestion of calling it a 'news reader' instead.
Solinny,
sounds like I have no life, but I agree with you when you mentioned how you hadn't realized you were using RSS feeds until you learned about the 'technical' definition. I find that being new to the blogsphere, I actually have had exposure to the language and usability through Facebook. Due to the vagueness of RSS and its unpopularity, I think a good way to communicate RSS to our users and peers would be through Facebook, just how you explained above. That way, you are connecting the defintion to an example of RSS to millions of people that are already exposed, know the language and can put RSS into perspective (since Facebook Feeds are just one way RSS works)
Yes, I find it odd that RSS and Atom seem to be under the radar for the majority of users. This is unfortunate as RSS provides a time saving way to receive information without having to manually check for updates. Also, since it IS simple, non-techies could use the technology.
Perhaps we should all find someone who is not currently using RSS and teach them about RSS and Atom feeds.
Regards
Greg
Hi Solinny,
I like how you've approached the whole concept of RSS by looking at it in a more creative light, such as with Facebook's newsfeeds and iGoogle's widgets. I hadn't really thought of them in this way despite being a user of both!
~mreen