Speaking Of Wealth

The Geeky Details of RSS Feeds

The Speaking of Wealth team — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:32:08 +0000

There’s probably no way to over-emphasize the importance of the RSS feed when it comes to syndicating your podcast. Without it, you don’t really have a podcast at all but rather an audio file sitting on your hard drive. The truth is creating an RSS feed from scratch can get pretty geeky, requiring at least some basic knowledge of HTML and XML. The good news is you can syndicate your podcast through the miracle of RSS without ever touching a line of code. WordPress blogging software already has everything built in that you need to automatically generate the feed.

If you’ve never seen an RSS feed up close and personal, take a look at the following code. That’s not so overwhelming, is it? As RSS files are essentially XML formatted plain text, the RSS file itself is relatively easily read both by automated processes and by humans alike. An example file could have contents such as the following. This could be placed on any appropriate communication protocol for file retrieval, such as http or ftp, and reading software would use the information to present a neat display to the end user.

RSS Title
This is an example of an RSS feed
http://www.someexamplerssdomain.com/main.html
Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:01:00 +0000
Mon, 06 Sep 2009 16:45:00 +0000
1800

Example entry
Here is some text containing an interesting description.
http://www.wikipedia.org/
unique string per item
Mon, 06 Sep 2009 16:45:00 +0000

RSS (often dubbed Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”, or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship.

RSS feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favorite websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

RSS feeds can be read using software called an “RSS reader“, “feed reader”, or “aggregator“, which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed’s URI or by clicking a feed icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds. RSS allows users to avoid manually inspecting all of the websites they are interested in, and instead subscribe to websites such that all new content is pushed onto their browsers when it becomes available.

The RSS formats were preceded by several attempts at web syndication that did not achieve widespread popularity. The basic idea of restructuring information about websites goes back to as early as 1995, when Ramanathan V. Guhaand others in Apple Computer‘s Advanced Technology Group developed the Meta Content Framework.

RDF Site Summary, the first version of RSS, was created by Dan Libby and Ramanathan V. Guha at Netscape. It was released in March 1999 for use on the My.Netscape.Com portal. This version became known as RSS 0.9. In July 1999, Dan Libby of Netscape produced a new version, RSS 0.91, which simplified the format by removing RDF elements and incorporating elements from Dave Winer‘s scriptingNews syndication format. Libby also renamed RSS Rich Site Summary and outlined further development of the format in a “futures document”.

This would be Netscape’s last participation in RSS development for eight years. As RSS was being embraced by web publishers who wanted their feeds to be used on My.Netscape.Com and other early RSS portals, Netscape dropped RSS support from My.Netscape.Com in April 2001 during new owner AOL‘s restructuring of the company, also removing documentation and tools that supported the format.

Two entities emerged to fill the void, with neither Netscape’s help nor approval: The RSS-DEV Working Group and Winer, whose UserLand Software had published some of the first publishing tools outside of Netscape that could read and write RSS.

Winer published a modified version of the RSS 0.91 specification on the UserLand website, covering how it was being used in his company’s products, and claimed copyright to the document. A few months later, UserLand filed a U.S. trademark registration for RSS, but failed to respond to a USPTO trademark examiner’s request and the request was rejected in December 2001.

The RSS-DEV Working Group, a project whose members included Guha and representatives of O’Reilly Media and Moreover, produced RSS 1.0 in December 2000. This new version, which reclaimed the name RDF Site Summary from RSS 0.9, reintroduced support for RDF and added XML namespaces support, adopting elements from standard metadata vocabularies such as Dublin Core.

In December 2000, Winer released RSS 0.92 a minor set of changes aside from the introduction of the enclosure element, which permitted audio files to be carried in RSS feeds and helped spark podcasting. He also released drafts of RSS 0.93 and RSS 0.94 that were subsequently withdrawn.

In September 2002, Winer released a major new version of the format, RSS 2.0, that redubbed its initials Really Simple Syndication. RSS 2.0 removed the type attribute added in the RSS 0.94 draft and added support for namespaces. To preserve backward compatibility with RSS 0.92, namespace support applies only to other content included within an RSS 2.0 feed, not the RSS 2.0 elements themselves. (Although other standards such as Atom attempt to correct this limitation, RSS feeds are not aggregated with other content often enough to shift the popularity from RSS to other formats having full namespace support.)

Because neither Winer nor the RSS-DEV Working Group had Netscape’s involvement, they could not make an official claim on the RSS name or format. This has fueled ongoing controversy in the syndication development community as to which entity was the proper publisher of RSS.

One product of that contentious debate was the creation of an alternative syndication format, Atom, that began in June 2003. The Atom syndication format, whose creation was in part motivated by a desire to get a clean start free of the issues surrounding RSS, has been adopted as IETF Proposed Standard RFC 4287.

In July 2003, Winer and UserLand Software assigned the copyright of the RSS 2.0 specification to Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, where he had just begun a term as a visiting fellow. At the same time, Winer launched the RSS Advisory Board with Brent Simmons and Jon Udell, a group whose purpose was to maintain and publish the specification and answer questions about the format.

In December 2005, the Microsoft Internet Explorer team and Microsoft Outlook team announced on their blogs that they were adopting the feed icon first used in the Mozilla Firefox browser (). In February 2006, Opera Software followed suit. This effectively made the orange square with white radio waves the industry standard for RSS and Atom feeds, replacing the large variety of icons and text that had been used previously to identify syndication data.

In January 2006, Rogers Cadenhead relaunched the RSS Advisory Board without Dave Winer’s participation, with a stated desire to continue the development of the RSS format and resolve ambiguities. In June 2007, the board revised their version of the specification to confirm that namespaces may extend core elements with namespace attributes, as Microsoft has done in Internet Explorer 7. According to their view, a difference of interpretation left publishers unsure of whether this was permitted or forbidden.

And that’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about RSS. Just remember, without RSS there is no podcasting.

The Speaking of Wealth Team

Flickr / Victorrochajr

Podcasting is Not Just a Technology Fling

The Speaking of Wealth team — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:43:46 +0000

If you haven’t heard about podcasting yet, you haven’t been paying attention. In fact, we think so much of this new medium that we’ve created an entire system to train up-and-coming podcasters, called the $10 Million Dollar Podcaster. It’s not out for sale yet but is coming very, very soon. We’ll let you know when it drops.

The larger point is we wouldn’t be devoting all this time and effort into creating training products for a technology we thought was just going to be a flash in the pan, or if we had an inkling that only a small percentage of Internet users would ever make use of it.

No way this is just another fad. The number of people downloading and listening to podcasts is increasing too quickly and has been ever since 2006. What’s interesting about the podcasting medium is that it allows consumers to focus so tightly on a particular niche they might be interested in, while at the same time it represents a huge swath of the global population. Add all those niches together and they become a formidable force indeed, especially when you begin to consider advertising and sponsorships.

Don’t think that businesses, corporations, and entrepreneurs haven’t taken notice of the surge in listenership. They are practically salivating at the idea of getting their message in front of so many unique niche audiences. Why? Because niche audiences tend to be loyal, devoted, and not afraid to whip their credit card out to financially support a brand of which they have become fond.

There are three reason we find podcasting to be more than a fling. As a medium, it has proven itself to be targeted, relevant, and most importantly – measurable. That last one is essential when it comes to evaluating a new medium. It’s easy to track how many times a particular podcast episode is downloaded, making it pretty cut and dried when it comes to showing demonstrating to an advertiser how many people are paying attention. Remember how email marketing, search engine marketing, and online display ads had to prove themselves viable? With podcasting, we’re at the cusp of watching what was at first just a really cool idea mature into a true marketing medium.

The Speaking of Wealth Team

Flickr / blogefl

SOW 59 – Podcasting on Book Series with Jamie Krakover

ari — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:57:39 +0000

Join Jason Hartman as he interviews Jamie Krakover, co-host and editor of Awakenings, “a podcast to awaken the magic in you.” The podcast discusses the characters of a book series entitled, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, a young adult book series by Michael Scott, where the cast is infused with historical and mythological figures. Jamie talks about the audience they draw and how she and her fellow co-hosts began the podcast. The podcast has been running once a month for three and a half years. Jason and Jamie also discuss equipment and software use, such as Audacity and Skype, and Jamie does the editing for the show from her studio. When Jamie started the podcast, she did a ton of research to find the best software and says there are a lot of good, free or low-cost applications that make creating a podcast simple. Podcasting doesn’t have to cost a lot. Finding a good headset and recording software is key. Jason and Jamie also talk about listener engagement methods. Jamie encourages people interested in podcasting to not be afraid of it. Do your research and just enjoy it.

Jamie is a rocket scientist by day and the producer, main co-host and editor of the Awakenings podcast in her free time. She is very organized and keeps all of the other hosts on their toes and on time. Awakenings is a discussion based podcast, which began with a fan site for the book series approved by and including interaction with the author, Michael Scott.

SOW 58 – Old Time Trivia with Host Adam Graham

ari — Tue, 01 May 2012 23:32:31 +0000

Jason Hartman interviews podcaster, Adam Graham, host of Old Time Dragnet Show, The Old Time Radio Superman Show, and The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. Adam resamples the old Dragnet TV shows, which are now public domain, in the old radio show style. This is a different approach from most of today’s podcasters, with only a small amount of commentary in the beginning and then addressing listener questions or comments that have been emailed or come from Twitter or Facebook, etc, after the show. Listen at: www.SpeakingofWealth.com. Jason and Adam discuss copyright issues that can surround public domain usage. Adam said you must be very careful about the laws. They also talk about sponsorship, advertising, and donations, and how the economy affects the monetary gain. Adam also gives a scientific breakdown of his listening audience, which is primarily a younger male audience from a wide range of professions. Adam discusses the equipment and process to produce his podcasts, including using the ever popular Dropbox to transfer files to the audio technician. Adam advises that podcasters have a vision and stick with it, and stresses the importance of accompanying the podcast with blogging.

Adam Graham is a novelist, columnist, and podcaster. His novel, Tales of the Dim Knight was published in 2010 by Splashdown Books. In 2011, he self-published All I Needed to Know I Learned from Columbo which focused on life lessons from fiction’s great detectives. Mr. Graham’s Political Columns have appeared on PJ Media.com and he was quoted extensively in a New York Times best selling non-fiction book. In March 2007, he began hosting the Old Time Dragnet Show with Adam Graham podcast and in 2008 began The Old TIme Radio Superman Show and in 2009 launched The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. His blog posts on detective fiction, as well as golden age radio, television, and movies are available at Greatdetectives.net and are also available for subscription in the Amazon Kindle Store.

SOW 57 – Keeping It Organic with 10 Drink Minimum Host Chris Burnett

ari — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:00:01 +0000

On this episode, Jason Hartman interviews host of 10 Drink Minimum Chris Burnett about his podcast experiences. Several years ago, Chris began listening to podcasts, some well done, some not so great, and got the idea that if they could do it, so could he. He talked two of his friends into co-hosting the podcast with him and over 300 episodes and six years later, 10 Drink Minimum is still bringing a different take on pop culture, sports, anything in life. Listen at: www.SpeakingofWealth.com. In addition to an audio podcast available on iTunes, Chris and co-host Billy host a live video show through UStream during which they take live calls. The show is non-scripted and, with the calls during the live show, it is more organic in nature. They sample microbrews on their show and receive all sorts of interesting things in the mail from all over the world, including recording equipment! Chris talks about how this hobby has begun opening other doors, but he keeps everything in perspective. He relies less on statistics and more on feedback from fans. Chris’ advice is to get the best audio quality possible, and don’t be afraid to get in front of the camera to do live streaming. “Just have fun with it,” Chris encourages. Chris grew up in Eastern New Mexico. He is a computer technician by day. He began podcasting six years ago, moving the podcast up to Albuquerque five years ago. He has been doing the podcast out of his house in Old Town, Albuquerque ever since. It is a comedy show on anything pop culture with a dedicated following.

SOW 56 – “The Naked Scientists” Podcast with Dr. Chris Smith

ari — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:57:06 +0000

Joining Jason Hartman from Barrington, England, is Dr. Chris Smith, creator of the popular podcast, “The Naked Scientists.” Dr. Smith shares the fascinating tale of how he and his colleagues began their radio show in 2000, which then led to creating one of the world’s first podcasts. For details, listen at: ww.SpeakingofWealth.com. They were one of the first podcasts listed on iTunes when it first launched in 2005. Adding their podcast to iTunes literally broke their server with the huge surge in their listening audience, which is known as the “iTunes Effect.” Dr. Smith relates that the first interview they did, which they thought would be around a 5-minute interview, turned into a two-hour interview. With the success the group achieved, Dr. Smith was able to raise money from grant-awarding bodies, such as The University of Cambridge, Research Councils of England, Rolls Royce, etc, which enabled them to put together a strong production team of scientists with skills in journalism. The podcast has grown by being repurposed to specialty shows around the world, five broadcasts per week. Dr. Smith explains the process he and his team employ to bring their show to a large listening audience from all around the globe.

What are “The Naked Scientists,” you may ask? The Naked Scientists are a media-savvy group of physicians and researchers from Cambridge University who use radio, live lectures, and the Internet to strip science down to its bare essentials, and promote it to the general public. Their award winning BBC weekly radio programme, The Naked Scientists, reaches a potential audience of 6 million listeners across the east of England, and also has an international following on the web. Each week, listeners of all ages and backgrounds tune in on a Sunday evening to hear creator Dr. Chris Smith, together with his entertaining sidekicks, interview renowned scientists and researchers from all over the world and take science questions on any subject live from the listening public. In addition to the radio show, the group has organised Naked Science at Borders, a public lecture series enabling the community to attend informative presentations given by some of the UK’s most celebrated scientists. They have also put together this website to allow the radio show, lectures, and much more to be accessible world-wide. According to Dr. Smith, the basic goal of the Naked Scientists “is to help people enjoy science as much as we do and, at the same time, to have fun.”

SOW 55 – “Gamers with Jobs” with Shawn Andrich

ari — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 01:12:41 +0000

Shawn Andrich, host of Gamers with Jobs Podcast, began podcasting before iTunes existed, when podcasts were only MP3s available on websites. Jason Hartman and Shawn walk through the changes in podcasting and talk about the current format of the show. Listen at: www.SpeakingofWealth.com. They discuss the conversation of the show, which has four hosts and covers a range of topics related to gaming and gamers. One of the techniques Shawn and his other hosts use is video in order to signal one another so as not to talk over one another, producing an almost edit-free podcast. Shawn also explains they use Google+, using Google Hangouts, something less often used by podcasters, and how each host records their own audio track, which is then spliced together by the audio technician. He feels it is the best audio quality when hosts are in different locations. Other topics Jason and Shawn cover includes advertising, going into detail about why advertisers don’t like to advertise on podcasts, and donation drives that work very well to draw community support. They wrap up the interview with great advice on producing a successful podcast.

Gamers With Jobs is the brainchild of Shawn Andrich and Sean Sands, both gamers who, oddly enough, didn’t have “real” jobs when they launched the site years ago. It began as a news site with a forum, and evolved into what you see today: a safe haven for all the girls and guys who grew up with games and have families to feed and bills to pay. Seeing that news wasn’t really getting the job done, Gamers With Jobs became the premier independent editorial site and community you see today. A cornerstone of the site, the Gamers With Jobs Conference Call prides itself on a professional-quality production that rivals that of many commercially produced podcasts. Featuring some of the very same writers from the front page, the podcast brings you smart, in-depth discussion about the latest games, issues and design quandaries of the day. We are also very fortunate to have regular guests like Ken Levine, Jeff Green, Shawn Elliott, Soren Johnson, John Carmack and others on the show. The host of the show, Shawn has been working on gaming websites for over a decade. Before the Conference Call, he was co-host on the GWJ Radio podcast and the short-lived Escapist Radio show. He plays games on every platform and in nearly every genre. His loathing for WoW and what it has done to otherwise interesting people is legendary.

SOW 54 – Niche Podcasting with Jeffrey Willerth

ari — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:59:38 +0000

Join Jason Hartman for an interview with podcaster, Jeffrey Willerth, executive producer of Slice of SciFi. Jeffrey is a television producer by trade and worked on the sci-fi show, “Babylon 5” during which he helped produce content for the Web. His experiences led to the creation of Slice of SciFi video and audio podcast, which is also available on Sirius XM and contains over 400 episodes. For more details, listen at: www.SpeakingofWealth.com. The studio where the podcasts are produced is a full blown radio studio that runs the feeds online, a large production show. Jeffrey feels that radio (podcasting included) is still the best medium, creating pictures with words for the listening audience. Jeffrey also shares his experiences with signing on with Sirius XM Satellite Radio, in that it did lead to a more rigid schedule, but also makes a great calling card. The goal of Slice of SciFi now is to build up the video show because the monetization is critical for the long-term business plan. Jason and Jeffrey also discuss statistics, niche online content to serve a specific audience, providing space for commercial advertising, and technology. Jason and Jeffrey wrap up their discussion with whether or not continuing to call it podcasting is a good idea.

Jeffrey Willerth’s first producing gig was a sports game show for closed-circuit college television. He started as a radio DJ and copywriter. His passion for auto racing accelerated as Jeffrey focused on media relations in the automotive and motorsport industry. He developed and executed successful print, radio and TV marketing campaigns with ESPN, TNN, PRIME, MTV Sports and others. Shifting gears, Jeffrey worked on Warner Bros. sci-fi hit “Babylon 5″ for all five seasons acting as the recurring role of Ambassador Kosh. He was the Producer’s Associate for the fourth and fifth seasons, four TNT B5 movies and the spin-off series “Babylon 5: Crusade”. Jeffrey has digital filmmaking experience as a Visual Effects Coordinator for the film “X-MEN 2″, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer” and “The Faculty”. Non-fiction programming credits include Discovery’s Military Chanel, History Channel, BBC, Discovery Channel, PBS, HGTV, A&E, Animal Planet, FOX, COURT and more. Currently, he is developing new television, film and multimedia programs for his production company, Erthbound Entertainment. Jeffrey Willerth is a member of the PGA, IFP/W, SAG, and ATAS.

SOW 53 – Professional Advice from Podcast Master, Rob Walch

ari — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:35:51 +0000

For those new to podcasting, terms like RSS Feed, media hosting, and platforms can be a foreign language. Jason Hartman interviews long-time podcaster, Rob Walsh, Vice President of Podcaster Relations for Wizzard Media/Libsyn, about his career in podcasting. Listen to this super informative interview at: www.SpeakingofWealth.com. Rob talks about starting his first podcast, Podcast411, in 2004, which he began in order to teach the ins and outs of the trade to others aspiring to get in on this type of media delivery. He lists the best sources for statistics, such as Libsyn, Feedburner, and Blubrry. He talks about some of techniques of the biggest podcasters, who have hundreds of thousands of downloads per day or multiple millions per week, gives examples of premium content versus free content, and also the benefit of a podcasting service/community to provide media hosting, delivery, and track stats. He also stresses the importance of editing and professionalism to produce a quality show.

Rob Walch is the Vice President of Podcaster Relations for Wizzard Media / Libsyn. Prior to joining Wizzard Media in 2007, he was President and founder of podCast411, Inc. Rob is co-author of the book “Tricks of the Podcasting Masters” – Que 2006, which was an editors pick as a Top 10 Reference book for 2006 by Amazon.com. Rob was listed as the 5th most influential person in podcasting according to the book “Podcasting for Dummies” – Wiley Press 2005. He has consulted on podcasting for Senator Edwards, Governor Bill Richardson and the Sacramento Kings/Monarchs to name just a few. He was also a monthly columnist for Blogger and Podcaster Magazine – the first print magazine covering this new media space. Rob is currently Chair of the Education and Outreach Committee for the Association of Downloadable Media. Rob started podcasting in late 2004, and is the host of the award winning podCast411 podcast, where he has interviewed such prominent podcasters such as Quincy Jones, Walt Mossberg, Colin Ferguson (Eureka), Ronald Moore (Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica), Phil Gordon (World Series of Poker), Larry Kudlow (CNBC’s Kudlow and Company) and Leo Laporte (TechTV, G4 TV). Additionally Rob is host of Today in iOS (iPhone) Podcast – the first podcast about the iPhone. In the past seven years Rob has presented at over 80 events on the subject of podcasting and New Media including the Newspaper Association of America Marketing Conference, the US Latino Film Festival, the Corporate Podcasting Summit, The Association for Women in Communications 2006 Annual Professional Conference, Social Media 2007, New Media Expo, and Blogworld Expo. He is also a regular guest lecturer at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. Rob was the Track Leader for the Podcasting sessions at the 2009 Blog World Expo – where he recruited 25 of the top experts to speak on podcasting. In 2004 Rob received his MBA from the University of Connecticut. He also has an engineering degree from the University of Dayton.

SOW 52 – “The Partially Examined Life” Podcast with Mark Linsenmayer

ari — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:29:58 +0000

Further exploring why and how people podcast, Jason Hartman interviews philosopher Mark Linsenmayer about the origins of The Partially Examined Life, a free philosophy podcast hosted by Mark and two of his philosophical counterparts. Listen at: www.SpeakingofWealth.com. Mark earned his degree in philosophy, but made a life choice to go into marketing and research communications rather than pursue a life as a teacher of philosophy. The podcast was created in 2009. Mark shares the steps he and his other hosts take to record the podcast episodes, starting with a Skype conference call, with each host recording their own audio on their computer and putting it in Dropbox. At first, Mark was doing all of the editing of the tracks and combining them together, but as the podcast grew, he reached out to the other hosts and to his listening audience through the Cloud for assistance with editing, receiving a good response. Mark talks about the various software programs that he and the other hosts use, such as Audacity for recording and Cubase for combining tracks, and services they use, such as Libsyn for a server and tracking downloads. The podcast was featured on iTunes, which boosted downloads and reviews quickly.

The podcasters were all graduate students in philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin back in the Clinton years. They all left the program at some point before getting their doctorates and have consequently since had time to get outside that whole weird world of academia and reflect on it and the various philosophical topics with a different, and probably much more lazy, perspective. Mark Linsenmayer has lived in Madison, WI since 2000, has two little kids, and works from home writing about transportation research. He’s got a band called New People, a big catalog of work with previous bands, and dabbles in fiction. When in grad school for philosophy, he mostly studied continental philosophy and philosophy of mind, with interests in phenomenology and explanations of consciousness. He more recently taught an ethics course for several semesters at Lakeland College.