RSS feeds
From OCWCWiki
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[edit] Why RSS
RSS (really simple syndication) is an easy way to distribute simple metadata, it is lightweight and easy to create and use, usable with standard tools such as browsers and aggregators.
OAI is a "better" way of getting your metadata out there, and is supportive of more complex metadata formats (like LOM), but the OCWC recommends RSS initially because this is the easiest to implement. If you are able to implement an OAI data provider service as well, then that's great.
[edit] What sort of RSS
Please use either RSS 1.0 or RSS 2.0 (depending on which suits your production environment best). It is important to include the Dublin Core and Creative Commons extensions to hold additional metadata which will be used by search aggregators as discussed below.
We use the Dublin Core extension because it is a simple metadata structure with wide acceptance and with predefined specifications for use in RSS.
[edit] Useful links
[edit] What to include
A tag name on its own is standard to RSS. dc: before a tag name means this is a Dublin Core extension tag. cc: before a tag name means this is a Creative Commons extension tag.
[edit] Channel tags
- Mandatory fields
- Title - descriptive title for the feed
- Link - URL to the site home page or to the relevant course list
- Description - a brief description of feed content
- Items - the table of contents for the courses listed in the feed
- dc:date - the date the feed was published
- dc:publisher - the name of the OCW site publishing the feed
- dc:language - the language of the feed
- Optional fields
- cc:license
- dc:rights
[edit] Item tags
You should have an item tag for each OER in your repository. This isn't the normal use of RSS where you'd expect just to add the latest x things. However, if your feed doesn't include "everything" then aggregators are likely to think that the missing things have been deleted and remove them from their search engines.
- Mandatory fields
- Title - Course title
- Link - Course URL
- Description - brief abstract of the course
- dc:subject - topic or keywords, can be repeating
- dc:creator - person or entity primarily responsible for creating the course content
- dc:publisher - name of OCW site publishing the feed
- dc:date - date the course was published
- Optional fields
- dc:contributor - person or entity making a contribution to creation of the course content
- dc:relation - a related course
- dc:type - type of content, e.g. Course
- dc:format - file format, e.g. text/html
- cc:license - to denote a Creative Commons license
- dc:rights - information about the copyright
[edit] How to publicise your feeds
While at the Utah Interoperability sprint in February 2008 we talked about who you need to tell about your feed, because there are now a number of different tools harvesting feeds (some of which have been mentioned above. This list may not be exhaustive, so please help extend it!
- OERCommons
- CCLearn
- url http://learn.creativecommons.org/education-search-engines/
- contact cclearn-info [at] creativecommons.org
- OCWFinder
- url http://www.ocwfinder.com
- contact ocwfinder AT cosl DOT usu DOT edu.
- OERRecommender
- url http://www.oerrecommender.com
- contact oerrecommender AT cosl DOT usu DOT edu.
- OCWConsortium
- url http://www.ocwconsortium.org
- Clay Whipkey (clay [at] ocwconsortium.org)
[edit] Examples
[edit] RSS 1.0
[edit] RSS 2.0
[edit] Guidelines for use
- Adhere to the standard
- Validate your feed using a feed validator
- Keep feed current
- Maintain persistent location for feeds
- Consider using multiple feeds if your feed is large, but still offer a single consolidated feed
- Market your feed
- Think about how to preserve your brand within your feed
- Realize that your feed may be presented out of context and may be displayed alongside content from other sites
[edit] What about OPML
OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is an XML format for outlines. It is commonly used to exchange lists of feeds between feed aggregators. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPML.
If you have a large site it can be helpful to break down your course materials into several RSS feeds, rather than (or as well as) offering a single massive list of everything on your site. An OPML feed can then be used to aggregate all these feeds back together again for those users who really do want everything so that they don't have to subscribe to all the different feeds individually. They also benefit if you restructure your site, or add new feeds, because you will include these in the OPML and so they obtain the new information automatically without having to visit your site again and notice the new feeds now available.
Consider for example breaking down your RSS feeds into different faculty and subject areas. You could even add feeds for all the video or audio content on your site, or static feeds for the content within a single course. Or if your site offers discussion forums, you could offer a single OPML feed aggregating RSS feeds from each discussion area.
[edit] Examples from OpenCourseWare sites
[edit] Next steps
- Expand RSS feeds to 80% of Consortium members
- Consider developing/adopting a standard subject classification system for use in the RSS feeds
- Advice on what to put in each tag of your RSS feed
- Begin development of a metadata repository
- Continue development of a collection of search tools
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