RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts.Users of RSS content use programs called feed "readers" or "aggregators": the user subscribes to a feed by supplying to his or her reader a link to the feed; the reader can then check the user's subscribed feeds to see if any of those feeds have new content since the last time it checked, and if so, retrieve that content and present it to the user.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format), 2007)
Within this project specifically, the RSS feeds provided from sites such as TeamTalk, BBC Football etc are used and then implemented within the network. The news headlines displayed are related to the specific clubs, rather than using an aggregator/reader as mentioned to read the RSS feeds. This is a major advantage for using RSS and certainly a major implementation tool of which the very ‘latest football news’ shall be captured from an array of RSS feeds and then presented within the Network.
With regards to exactly how RSS is implemented and developed, there are two issues to be looked at. Firstly, the way in which the XML code is set out awaiting to be read and the second issue is the way in which the server communicates with the XML feed to enable the news items to be brought in from the RSS feed to which can then be viewed within an aggregator/reader or a site such as this.
‘Content incorporated into other web sites’ is the route of which this project plans to benefit from the likes of the BBC RSS feeds and other similar sites. The ability to implement the feed, along with an array of other club related feeds will enable the user to then not only detect the very latest news provided but also to quickly view the specific story directly being taken to the news site