Emily Lowry

Ever seen that little icon before, tucked away on some website?

RSS: What is it?

There are several different explanations for the initials RSS. The most popular is "Rich Site Summary," but a dumbed-down version is also "really simple syndication." But what does that mean exactly?

Let’s go at this by parts. Here are basic definitions that you will need to know:

Reader

A certain type of website that collects all of the information from the updated ‘’feeds’’ in one space. This is your one-stop-shopping website for feeds.

Feed

A website that you have “subscribed” to such as a blog, online newspaper or magazine, or any basic site that is updated regularly (or irregularly too).

Now, let’s attack the “really simple syndicate.” Think of RSS as a personalized radio. The reader is the radio station itself, and each individual feed is a segment, a spot, a song, or news bulletin on your personalized station. Because it is ‘’your’’ station, none of the commercials, bad ‘90’s songs, or unnecessary talk is ever played. Like the radio station, your reader only has your personal subscriptions on it. For example, my friend John is a Peace Corp Volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa. He has a blog for friends and family back home to read about his experiences. My younger sister also has a blog, and so does one of my favorite singer/songwriters. Unfortunately for me, until I knew about RSS, I was checking each one of their websites daily, hoping for an update. After I learned about RSS, I was able to subscribe to each blog, and now, I need only visit my reader, and it tells me which, if any, blogs have been updated. It also makes it very easy to go and visit the updated blog to read the entire entry.

The same is true for newspapers or online magazines. Reader’s can receive feeds that include every article from the specified newspaper or only articles containing basic search words. If you are interested in educational news in Memphis, Tennessee, you can set a feed to search the Commercial Appeal for new or updated articles including the word “education” or the phrase “Memphis City Schools.”

Facebook provides a feed. You can set your reader to accept a feed searching eBay or Amazon for certain sale items.

Here’s the “really simple” part: You only have to go to one website to check ALL of this information!

As for the “rich site summary,” that’s not so complicated either. Think of your subscriptions/your feeds as rich sites. Well, the reader collects those sites for you in one place, and it provides a brief summary, tagline, or introduction to each of your subscriptions so, for example, you know whether or not you actually want to read the article in the CA involving the word “education.”

RSS: How do I get it?

Depending on how you look at it, this is the only complicated part of RSS, and it’s not even that hard. First of all, before you can start subscribing to anything, you need a reader. (See the section entitled “RSS: Where can I find a reader?” below for suggestions.) All you have to do for a ‘’’free’’’ reader is go to any reader site and sign up. It’s pretty easy.

After you have a reader, you can start subscribing. The key is to look for the RSS symbol. (That’s the orange square with radio waves like above.) This sign may be at the bottom of a blog or newspaper website, or it may be anywhere near the headline or title of the website. Once you find it, click it.

Depending on the website, what happens next will vary. Sometimes it will be simple and the website will merely ask you for brief information about your reader (which in most cases would be the website host you are using, the web address, etc.)

Other times, a page full of seemingly complicated text or code will come up. Simply highlight it, copy it, and then paste it into your reader after clicking “add subscription.” Some examples of this can be found on the Wikipedia page for RSS.

RSS: Where can I find a reader?

Now that you know how to do all this nifty, new-fangled, technologically simple “stuff,” where do you find the reader that is perfect for you? Well, like all great technological ideas, RSS has generated quite a few reader options.

First of all, there is reader software. You buy it or download it, and install it on your own, personal computer. This has its privacy advantages, and of course, you don’t need to log in to an online reader that might be down for the day either. On the downside, your reader is local only, and as soon as you go in to work, you don’t have your home computer or reader anymore.

Second, there are online readers. These are simple to use, and they are wonderfully available to you wherever there is internet. On the downside, there is less privacy as your reader is on the World Wide Web. I prefer the easily accessible online reader to the local one, because I don’t have any private information or newsfeeds that might need protection.

Here are some lists and links to software and online readers, respectively. (These are in no particular order other than the order in which I came across them.)

1 RSSReader: free	1 Google Reader
2 Surfpack: free/costs	2 MyYahoo
3 FeedDemon: costs	3 Newsgator (downloadable also)]]
4 Pluck: costs	4 Bloglines
5 Awasu: free	5 Feedshow

Learn More

RSS Information Links:

YouTube Video by CommonCraft

This is the best how-to video out there. The people at CommonCraft explain the who, what, where, when, how, and why of RSS. It is easy to understand and fun to watch.

Wikipedia's Site for RSS

Wikipedia is always a good place to start if you are looking for general information that might be helpful and at least start you off in the right direction. The wikipedia page includes much more information than you want to know, and it is a little more complicated to read through. It does, however, provide an extensive history of RSS, even if the how-to instructions are a little more confusing.

What is RSS . Com

This site includes simple explanations of the what, why, and how of RSS. It also provides helpful links to even more sites.

PDF file: 7 Things You Need to Know about RSS

This is an article from an online magazine provided by Educause.