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RSS Feed (Really Simple Syndication)
What is RSS?
There are billions of web pages on the internet, so staying up to date can be frustrating and time consuming. Now you can have the latest logistics, supply-chain and transport news and information delivered directly to your desktop from your Institute!
Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows you to see when sites from all over the internet have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and articles (or even audio files, photographs or video) in one place, as soon as they are published, without having to remember to visit each site every day.
RSS takes the hassle out of staying up-to-date, by showing you the latest news and information which you have personally requested – so it is uniquely tailored to suit your own interests. RSS feeds are just a different type of web page, designed to be read by computers rather than people.
Not all websites currently provide RSS, but it is growing fast and many others, including the BBC, the Guardian, New York Times and CNN provide it.
How do I start using RSS feeds?
The first thing you will need is something called a ‘news reader’. This is a piece of software that checks RSS feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them. There are many different versions: some are online versions which can be accessed using an internet browser; some are already available on newer versions of software - such as Outlook - or internet browsers - IE 7 or Mozilla Firefox; and some of which are downloadable applications. Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer; whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your email using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based service like Hotmail.
Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want to receive, by finding and subscribing to the RSS feeds you are interested in. The Institute will provide an RSS logo on the home page which will allow you to subscribe to the Institute’s latest news, updated daily. Or, for example, if you would like the latest BBC Sport Football stories, visit the Football section of the BBC web site and you will notice an orange RSS button on the left hand side.
The orange RSS icon and button are pretty standard and easy to identify. If you click on the button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL (web address) of the RSS feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader.
Most sites that offer RSS feeds use a similar orange RSS button, but some may just have a normal web link to the feed.
Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their web sites.
How do I get a news reader?
There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time.
Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer.