RSS Feeds And Email Alerts From OIA Web Site

What Are News Feeds?

News feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and video in one place, as soon as its published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from.

If this doesn't make sense - don't worry it is easier to understand with an example: Suppose I am a person who doesn't use RSS feeds. Every day or twice a day or even more, I visit my regular web sites. These may be the BBC web site, National Library for health, globalissues.org , . . . I'm visiting these sites looking for new information that has been added.

This takes time!

The usual approach is to use an email subscription. Where you would receive an email with the latest additions to a site. There are a few problems with this:

You must disclose your email address, even if you trust the site then it makes it all the more difficult to change an email address. The subscription process by email has to have an associated password - this also has it's downside.

There are other inherent problems with email subscriptions but by now you should get the point. This is where RSS feeds come in. They solve the problem because they ared a simple method for a web site to list the additions or changes to it's content. It doesn't need to use an email system or password because it is a list of changes that are broadcast for all who want to subscribe. The RSS feed for the EASDec site is available here » 

Techie info: Feeds are also known as RSS. There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but most people plump for 'Really Simple Syndication'. After reading the above then you should now appreciate the reason why it is considered simple.

How do I start using feeds?

The BBC in the UK has a useful discussion » of how and what feeds are and how to use them. Also google » is your friend! The thing to remember here is to look for the icon below on this site.

EASDec is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.