IL2006: You, too, can do Javascript!

I thought this was one of the best presentations of the conference. I learned a lot of stuff that I can use NOW.

RSS & Javscript Cookbook: Rip, Burn, Mix

Meredith Farkas mfarkas@norwich.edu http://meredith.wolfwater.com
Paul R. Pival ppival@ucalgary.ca http://library.ucalgary.ca/services/libraryconnection/contactus.php

Paul and Meredith used a Wiki instead of a Powerpoint to organize their presentation. It seemed to be an effective way to collaborate.

pg. 53 of conference proceedings has their presenation and all the information about the tools, etc.

Repurposing RSS tools

Personal firewall – if everything has to go through IT to get posted, then it is no different than a personal firewall. You need to find ways to get around barriers and post yourself.

Traditional subject pages
-not often updated
-not easy to add content if you don’t know HTML
-no field is static so HTML page may not be best tool for a subject guide (need dynamic content)

"< script language = “Javascript” >" tells you what parts are dynamically generated

Dynamic Content

Give people the information where they login; don’t point them to blog. Put the blog information where they are.

-content lives elsewhere, but is pulled on to a page
-updated as content is updated elsewhere

RSS
-format for syndicating on the web
-based on XML
-view content from different sites on a single page
-dynamically updated
-allows content to be delivered in many ways
*view content in aggregator like Bloglines
*get via e-mail
*show up on a webpage by tweaking with Javascript

Javascript (definition came from ASU information overload glossary)
-simple scripting language that can interact with HTML to put dynamic content on a page
-use to write functions for HTML pages that HTML cannot do on its own
-don’t have to know how it works to use it

Content on a Subject Page (think practice areas)
-dbs
-articles
-new books
-new articles
-new blogs
-etc

Different sites will allow you to pull content from their sites (news, book and cover art, etc)
*delicious (look at San Mateo Public Library delicious bookmarks)
*blinklist
*Furl

Simple RSS to Java tools
-RSS to Javascript
-Feed2JS – http://www.feed2js.org
*script resides on their server - script that does the work of feeding the information from the blog/info sources. They also have a version you can download to your own server so the script resides on your server.
1. Build feed
2. Put in URL of RSS feed
3. Preview
4. Get your code – cut and paste from generator into webpage

-Grazr – www.opmlmanager.com/opm/nengard.opml - allows you to read via a widget on your site. Not sure why you would want to, but it looks cool.

OPML file – outline format for creating a group of feeds – good if you are switching aggregators

Possible to syndicate from delicious using RSS link on bottom of delicious tag page.

Tools to Mix RSS Feeds
-KickRSS – must register to use
-RSS Mix – www.rssmix.com – has an HTML version or you can put new feed into aggregator. Doesn’t show where info comes from, however - mixes up posts from a variety of blogs.

-FeedBlendr – www.feedblendr.com
*can create a title
*tells you where articles/information are coming from

RSS to Email – people are used to this/comfortable with this format of information delivery (e-mail)
-R /Mail
-Squeet
-FeedBlitz
-Feedburner

Creating Feeds where none exist
-Feed 43
-RSSxl
-FeedYes
*some of these tools are not as straightforward to use as Feed2JS

RSS Calendars - an RSS feed that tells people where/when events happen
-RSS Calendar- tells you exactly what to do
-Calendar Hb

Feed on Feed -Aggregator
Wikis have RSS feed
*Media Wiki allow syou to create an RSS feed on every single page

Web developer toolbar for IE
-view generated source code to see where Javascript comes from