As part of the UMBC-MUN Website, visitors may access news feeds from internationally recognized news sources in a one-stop resource. The World News resource features top stories that are up-to-date from the United Nations News Service, BBC, CNN World News, Reuters International, the Economist (subscription required), and others.

Check out the UMBC-MUN World News resource.

WHAT ARE RSS FEEDS OR CHANNELS?
RSS is a technology used to summarize the content of web sites. A group of related content described in SS is commonly referred to as a "feed" or "channel". Most popular sites, such as CNN, Yahoo, and ESPN, now publish different categories of information from their sites as RSS channels. Really, a channel is very similar to a web page, except its content is frequently updated and it's written in something called XML instead of HTML.

WHY IS RSS USEFUL?
RSS channels provide a quick way to find the stories you want to read without having to surf to each site and browse through its sections. For example, if you were only interested in NCAA football stories at ESPN.com, you can subscribe to their channel for that particular section of their site. What you'll get when you check that channel is pretty simple. Instead of going to ESPN, navigating to the college football section, and trying to find an interesting story amidst the cluttered layout and superfluous information, you'll get a simple list of the latest stories with a synopsis and a link to the full story. Subscribing to a channel is not like a magazine subscription. Rather, it's completely free and only requires you to add that channel to the list of channels you wish to view in your RSS reader software.

WHAT IS AN RSS READER AND DO I HAVE ONE?
An RSS reader is some sort of software, either downloaded and installed or web-based, that will keep track of the channels you're interested in, obtain the latest information from those sites, and format it for display to you. Just like a web browser translates HTML into what you see when you surf the web, an RSS reader translates the XML in the channel into something easier to view and navigate. While there are many free RSS readers available for download or integrated into the latest versions of popular web browsers, you might wish to try our web-based reader at the UMBC-MUN web site. Having a web-based reader means that you can access your saved RSS channels from anywhere you have an internet connection.

HOW TO USE THE UMBC-MUN.ORG WebRSS NEWS READER
First, log in to the site from the home page. In the user menu that appears, select "My news". You should make sure that the correct login name is displayed on the left below the UMBC-MUN graphic. If no channels are listed under "YOUR CHANNELS", use the "MODIFY YOUR CHANNELS" dropdown list to select from pre-populated RSS channels or use the "CREATE A CHANNEL" form to add a new one. Most channels from around the web will work in the reader, although the software only fully supports RSS 0.9x and RSS 2.0 channels at the moment. RSS 1.0 channels will work for the most part, but Atom channels are not supported. You can find new channels at your favorite sites by looking for a small, orange, rectangular graphic with white text labeled "XML". To add a new channel, you need to know what the URL is for it. The easiest way to get that is to right-click on a link to a channel and select "Copy Shortcut" or "Copy Link Location". You can then paste the URL into the Link text entry box of the "CREATE A CHANNEL" form. After entering a title and clicking "Create", the channel will show up under "YOUR CHANNELS". Don't forget to use the gray tabs in the menu bar to help you navigate. When you're done, click on the UMBC-MUN graphic to return to the main site and be sure to log out before leaving the site.

If you have any questions or comments, or you'd like to see new features added, please contact steve.handy@gmail.com.