RSS Basics - Information Trapping: Real-Time Research on the Web - page 14

tip
Many blogs run on services like Blogger, or use content-management
software like Movable type. Many of these software packages and
services can automatically create RSS feeds for their users. this is
good for you (the trapper) in that there are lots and lots of feeds
out there; it's bad for you because many of the feeds are from
blogs and, therefore, aren't primary, credible sources. don't fret:
there are many primary-source RSS feeds available: and many blog
feeds do link to primary-source content.
Note
Some RSS feed readers are client-based—that is, they're installed on
your computer. others are Web-based; you access them by visiting
a Web site. (newsgator is a Web-based feed reader.) Still others are
installed as part of your Web browser. Which you use depends on
your situation; we'll look at your options later in the chapter.
RSS is the cornerstone of any information-trapping strategy. RSS feeds are
compact, focus on content, and contain a lot of clearly delineated informa-
tion—the essential parts of the data low you monitor. here will be times
when you have to look at the content of entire Web pages and Web sites
instead of using an RSS feed—sometimes RSS feeds aren't available for
the materials in which you're really interested. But whenever possible, you
should use RSS feeds. How to ind an RSS feed, and what options you have
to read them, is the subject of the rest of this chapter.
Finding RSS Feeds
Of course, you can't use an RSS feed until you ind one. Fortunately, you've
got several places to look! here are three major places: on RSS-enabled pages
themselves, in RSS feed directories (which oten allow for extensive search-
ing), and in searchable subject indexes of RSS feeds (which allow for less
searching but have feed listings broken down into detailed subcategories).
Keyword-based RSS feeds, which we'll look at in more detail later in the
chapter, are usually created as the result of a search; therefore, there's not
really a place to ind them. Instead, you have to investigate the RSS feed
sources you come across and see if they have keyword-based RSS feeds
available, or use a tool that generates keyword-based RSS feeds.