The first in a series of e-Business Master Classes reveals a new kind of service that brings the headlines and stories to you, without the need for lengthy searches.

RSS: The Really Simple Solution

Keeping up-to-date with all the latest industry news can be a challenging, if not impossible, task. The internet may have made it easier to locate news quickly, sometimes even to view it as it happens, but it still means trawling through dozens of web pages to get to the information you want. Or does it?

The emergence of RSS is set to revolutionise the way we access information on the internet. Instead of revisiting your favourite sites over and over again to check up on new content, RSS allows you to sit back and relax, as all the latest news and information is delivered direct to you. Not in an unmanageable deluge of e-mails or newsletters, but in a carefully personalised way that provides you with only the information you've originally specified.

So what exactly is RSS?

RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary... opinions vary. Originally developed by Netscape, RSS refers to the ability to share website content with other websites or web users.

In other words, an organisation can now decide to share the information on its website with other organisations and allow selected content to be published on other sites. It does this simply by creating an RSS document then registering that document with an RSS publisher. Users that can read RSS content can then use the content on a different site.

A summary of the new content of 100 sites or more can be viewed in a single glance, with no fancy images or advertising to get in the way. And, if you need to find out more, you can click on the link to go direct to that site.

What type of content can be shared?

You name it... news feeds and headlines, features and events listings, financial reports and corporate information, updates on specific projects, audio files, photographs, video and even extracts from discussion forums.

What are the benefits, or implications, for the travel and tourism industry?

RSS can be used to provide...

1. News Readers
   
   When a News Reader is installed on your computer, you can subscribe to RSS news feeds from any number of different websites. You'll receive automatic alerts whenever these sites or updated or a new article is added.
   
   So, there are clear benefits for any busy manager struggling to keep up with industry developments. RSS will mean that they no longer have to remember to visit specific sites on a daily or weekly basis just to catch up with the latest news.
   
   
2. Shared Website Content
   
   Web content such as news headlines can be incorporated into the web pages of other sites and automatically updated. Destination websites, for instance, can import content from specialist media or national bodies. In a similar way, they can also share their web content with local attractions and service providers.

As RSS grows in popularity and as the technology improves, there is huge potential for the travel and tourism industry, with destination websites harnessing the technology to provide key target audiences with news updates and special offers.

Already, a number of national tourism bodies such as the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and specialist events including the Edinburgh Festival offer RSS feeds.

Starting to access RSS feeds

To start using RSS feeds, you'll need a piece of software called a News Reader. There are lots of different versions around, with new ones appearing all the time, and you'll need to decide whether to get one that is browser based (and will therefore allow you access via any computer) or downloadable (which can be stored only on your main computer). You'll also need to check that the News Readers are compatible with your operating system, e.g. Windows, Mac OS X, etc.

Here's just a small selection of the currently available News Readers, or RSS Aggregators as they are sometimes known...

AmphetaDesk
Awasu
BlogExpress
FeedDemon
FeedReader
NetNewsWire
Newsfire
NewzCrawler
SharpReader

Subscribing to RSS feeds

Once you have chosen a News Reader, the only thing left to do is decide on the content you want to receive. Not all websites currently provide RSS but, those that do, often display an orange button marked RSS or XML on their home pages. Some sites have multiple links, depending on the complexity and nature of the content they provide.

Once selected, you will be able to subscribe by dragging (or cutting and pasting) the URL of the RSS feed into your News Reader. Some browsers, such as Firefox, Safari and Opera, will automatically check for the availability of RSS feeds when you visit a site.

Although the technology has been around for a while now, it's the simplicity of RSS that is currently capturing users' imagination and enthusiasm. The earlier confusion over standards and formats is now reducing, and RSS is steadily gaining a reputation as an essential web tool and one that will reap benefits within the travel and tourism industry.

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