
RSS feeds and aggregators
'An alternative means of accessing the vast amount of information that now exists on the Internet. Instead of the user browsing websites for information of interest, the information is sent directly to the user.'1
RSS allows you to customise the way information comes to you. The BBC website has an excellent introductory guide to using RSS.
To use RSS, you need an RSS aggregator (or feed reader) to find RSS feeds. The majority of aggregators are free, and simple to use. Aggregators automatically check your selected news summaries, weblogs, or other sources of information on the web, searching for new entries and updated items.
A web feed is a document, in XML format which lists summaries of news items or blog posts, with a link to the original version. RSS is the main web feed format, but another you may encounter is Atom.
There are three major types of aggregator:
- Web based versions (such as Bloglines and Google Reader)
- Stand alone applications (such as Awasu and RSS Reader)
- Browser based versions (incorporated into the browser such as Internet Explorer and Safari. Firefox also has feed reader extensions such as Sage.
It is possible to find RSS aggregators for your mobile phone, your pocket PC, your Blackberry - any device where you access information via the web.
For a list of RSS aggregators, organised by platform, try the RSS Compendium.
References
1. What is RSS?, [Online] Available from: http://www.whatisrss.com/ [Accessed 10th June 13:00:20]