Virtual Community

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

pt36 — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 01:33:00 GMT

I just did a training video on using rss. As usual for me right now this is in the context of MOODLE but does cover subscribing to feeds from blogs as well. It is meant for end users and I would welcome any comments or input as to it's usefulness or ways to improve it.

The video is here http://treadwell.cce.cornell.edu/moodle_doc/

I feel rss has great potential, but like any new tech in myorganization teaching people how to use it and making it a normal part of their workflow is always a challenge.

Paul

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

musella — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 04:43:00 GMT

We have been using an rss feed for a long time..
http://virtualtrials.com/feed.xml

We have hundreds of people subscribed. Our feed basically describes changes to our website, which is about brain tumor treatments. So whenever we add an article or clinical trial, it is automatically added to our feed. It not only keeps our members informed, but it leads them back to our website much more often than they would return without the feed. (We also send out email newsletters, but not as often as the feed is updated, so the people who really need the information fast use the feed!)

Someone asked how to construct it.. we also use dreamweaver - and cold fusion. All scripts that enable us to add content to the website automatically add an entry into a database that the feed uses to update itself.
Creating the feed itself is simple for your web programmer. It is a very easy syntax.

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

msaunders — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 18:51:00 GMT

This is an interesting thread.

We're using RSS as a way of controlling different views of our information. Our main page www.handsnet.org is a collection of RSS feeds.

We create these feeds through postings to Movable Type and display and format using CaRP. (the MT view of the same information is at http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/)

We don't use many of the blogging capabilities of MT, except for the Quickpost function which is good for capturing information from Websites that we post on HandsNet. Movable Type is a fairly easy to maintain content management system and with a little PHP you can get information in and out of it efficiently.

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

castanza88 — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 22:33:00 GMT

We actually have a live rss on our site. It is actually a PHP script that is connecting to the database on the livesite. We have made sure that MySQL injection cannot occur & have also restricted privileges for the mysql user that the php script uses. We created a mysql account that can only select from specific tables from our database. This secures our feed fairly well. You can see the feed here...

http://www.vote-smart.org/rss.htm

I'm a huge advocate of RSS & with the php script that we use, we are able to include a donate button on all the items including the main channel image. Also, with the script we are able to add global items to the script that will be added to each feed file that uses our include file. Thus, once someone subscribes to the feed, every month we can add an item that tells them about our other services & if they would like to donate. RSS is wide open to ideas like this. I hope this helps and if you have any technical questions or concerns feel free to email me!!!

RE: Growing Interest In RSS

wtbell — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:12:00 GMT

Hmmmm? I thought that I posted a reply to Susan yesterday; but nothing is there?! Will try again.

An angle to a meaningful article might be based on a response to those who don't see the utility of using RSS today. Personally, I don't see many good reasons not to use RSS -- at least as I see RSS (which might be different from some other views).

So, what I would propose is that readers use this space for the next few days to brainstorm/list the reasons they have not used RSS in their organizations. I will take the responses and organize an article that explores the objections and offers some counters (if appropriate) and submit that for your consideration.

Just to reiterate and to focus our inputs: the question is are you using RSS as part of your communications strategy as a non-profit organization? If not, why not?

RE: Growing Interest In RSS

Susan_Tenby — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 21:58:00 GMT

Hi Ward,

In order to move forward on your fantastic idea, please follow the instructions on the Write for us page. We look forward to receiving your pitch!

Thanks for offering and thanks to Michael for sheparding the conversations in the direction of article content.

Best,

Susan

RE: Growing Interest In RSS

wtbell — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 06:10:00 GMT

Thanks, Michael!

I'd be interested in exploring how to present the concepts within an article. In fact, it would be kind of fun to make some sort of interactive article that built on some of the characteristics of RSS.

How would you propose to move forward?

RE: Growing Interest In RSS

MJanofsky — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 21:52:00 GMT

Nicely done Ward!

Maybe we could incorporate that presentation into a TechSoup article? What do you think?

RE: Growing Interest In RSS

wtbell — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 06:50:00 GMT

Over the months since this topic was first started (May 05), the "buzz" regarding RSS has been growing. Two things stand out: mailers are starting to report that 30-40% of opt-in email is not read; and Microsoft has made a strong committment to RSS -- will be supported by the MS Explorer 7 due out this fall.

In off-list communications, several members have asked for more information about how RSS strategies fit with eNewsletters, for example.

I've pulled together a very brief, animated slide presentation on three different implementations of RSS; these will give you some ideas on the possibilities.

And, I've put together an actual implementation of a personalized RSS feed that links you to information about wines. The key with this demo is that a unique ID is assigned and can be used to track constituents around the site.

Check these two items out; your feedback would be greatly appreciated:

http://www.boadminsys.com/rss/rss.cfm

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

webb — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 23:12:00 GMT

Phil,

I usually talk about RSS as a way to listen: you can listen to what people are saying by signing up or by searching through existing feeds for topic based information. I agree, though, it's not an easy explanation.

I have no idea what the adoption rate is -- either as readers or as producers. Wish I did (been thinking of trying to get a survey going to get at this and related topics).

I do think that it helps get over the hump of having people come to your site and allows people to find you because you publishing items that are of interest to them -- and they find you through searching feeds -- rather than searching google.

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

webb — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 23:07:00 GMT

lesher,

You asked:

Where do I go to learn how to CREATE the RSS data feed that people will see? About I know is some blogger software does so automagically. We use Dreamweaver 2004 under OSX; feeding {eventually} an Apache box. The PHB goal is it will magically put all the headlines up. Somehow, I think it's never that simple...

What's available in authoring tools? Where do I go to read up?

It depends on what your using to create the RSS feeds. Is it a static page or are using something to manage the content (many systems are including ways to generate RSS)? If you want to get into the details of creation, RSS workshop: Publish and Syndicate Your News to the Web is a good place to start.

-webb

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

philklein — Sat, 11 Jun 2005 22:52:00 GMT

Mostly, non-geek people I talk with know nothing about RSS and usually glaze over when I do my best to explain it to them. I'm sure Marnie and probly others do a much better job explaining this. My questions are: what is the adoption rate of RSS feed use in the general nonprofit population, and at what rate is it growing? I think it's still pretty small, and I'm not sure where a usage peak would top out -- at 20% of internet users, 35%??? What's your sense about this, -- I'm especially curious about estimates that have some statistics & evidence & reasoning behind them.

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

lesher — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 12:04:00 GMT

So I've been reading this thread, but have an oh-too-obvious question.

Where do I go to learn how to CREATE the RSS data feed that people will see? About I know is some blogger software does so automagically. We use Dreamweaver 2004 under OSX; feeding {eventually} an Apache box. The PHB goal is it will magically put all the headlines up. Somehow, I think it's never that simple...

What's available in authoring tools? Where do I go to read up?

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

wtbell — Fri, 13 May 2005 20:05:00 GMT

Here is an application that I would think would be great for small-to-midsized non-profits that do not have a centralized calendar function implemented: http://www.rsscalendar.com/

I've only started to check it out but it has some really great features -- including invitations and rsvp modules.

And, an application that is saving me money: my County Library has launched personal RSS feeds that show, among other things, books that are out on loan. I never can keep track of my outstanding books and I'm in the library all the time checking more out. This service alerts me when books are due.

It also can be set up to alert me when a book that I ordered is ready for pick-up -- notices that got lost in the email in the past.

But that calendar concept: very sweet! What I don't quite understand is the business model behind it. The site says "Beta," but there isn't much of an indication as to where they are going.

RE: Discuss RSS for Nonprofits

webb — Thu, 12 May 2005 19:26:00 GMT

John,

You might check out Newsgator. It integrates with RSS. It's also my understanding that Microsoft will be integrating RSS in the next version of both Outlook and Internet Explorer.

I used Newsgator for a while and found it overwhelming. Though it dumped my RSS feeds into a separate folder, my unread msgs folder still had a very high number attached to it. Frankly, it flipped me out.

I find that Bloglines can be a good tool for both.

As for adoption, I've also found that using RSS and then emailing the things I find to my collegues has resulted in not a few people stopping by my desk to say, How did you find that? That goes a long way to helping with adoption.

I have another collegue who has RSS feeds displaying on an intranet. The users are soaking in it and they don't even know!

-webb.