What is RSS?

Some definitions:

RSS: Really Simple Syndication (or RDF Site Summary, or Rich Site Summary). RSS is a way to distribute news headlines, updated content, and other notifications of changes.

XML: Extensible Markup Language. XML is a flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the Web. HTML is (in some ways) a sub-set of XML.

blog: Short for web log. A blog is an online site, using specialized "blogging" software, that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption.

RDF: Resource Description Framework. But that's all we're going to say about it.

How does RSS work?

"RSS works by having the website author maintain a list of notifications on their website in a standard way. This list of notifications is called an "RSS Feed". People who are interested in finding out the latest headlines or changes can check this list. Special computer programs called "RSS aggregators" have been developed that automatically access the RSS feeds of websites you care about on your behalf and organize the results for you. (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes called "RSS Channels" and "RSS Readers".)" (from SoftwareGarden -- see below)

Some descriptive links in order of ascending geekiness:

What is RSS? from SoftwareGarden
RSS, from Wikipedia
What is RSS?, from xml.com
RSS Specifications: "everything you need to know about RSS"

Places to get RSS feeds:

Lawrence Admissions
http://www.lawrence.edu/admissions/rss/rss.shtml
Appleton Post-Crescent
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=RSS
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/
Google News
http://news.google.com/intl/en_us/news_feed_terms.html
ArXiv e-print archive
http://arxiv.org/help/rss
Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/help/rss.htm
Tapestry is a directory of feeds for online comics
http://www.tapestrycomics.com/

RSS Feed Readers:

Web-based:

Bloglines: a free, web-based news aggregator
http://www.bloglines.com/
RSS Readers for a variety of platforms
http://allrss.com/rssreaders.html

Windows:

FeedReader: "a lightweight open-source aggregator that supports RSS and ATOM formats." Whatever that means...
http://www.feedreader.com/
FeedReader Installation instructions from ITS
http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/computer_services/services/rss-feeds.shtml

Mac:

NetNewsWire Lite
http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/
NetNewsWire Installation instructions from ITS
http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/computer_services/services/rss-feeds.shtml#macos