What is RSS?
RSS is an open XML standard for exchanging or syndicating information. The letters RSS stand for Rich Site Summary and/or Really Simple Syndication. In less technical terms, it is usually thought of as a news-feed, although it need not necessarily contain news.
What can RSS do for me?
Currently you may have ten websites which you like to check every day for information crucial to your field of work. You’ve probably got another twenty which you like to check every week. But it’s a slow process, visiting each site, and checking what’s new. Imagine now that each of the sites you’re interested in published a daily, or even hourly, update of added or changed information, and that you have a tool that can automatically download that information, and present it to you either separately, or aggregated, or filtered in some way by your preferences. If your favourite sites support RSS, and you download a RSS reader (see below), then you can have exactly that.
What is Oxford Analytica making available as RSS?
We’ve made available headlines and summary metadata from our Daily Brief Services as RSS. We’ve gone beyond offering just an RSS feed of our most recent content, and offer a fully fledged RSS service. Whether you just want a daily update of all our new content, or you want to list our most recent output about Nigeria, or you want our most recent content concerning United States, Iran and nuclear energy, all these are there for you. For a list of RSS feeds, please see right-hand column.
Can I get Oxford Analytica full content as an RSS feed?
There is no authentication mechanism built into RSS, so regrettably we cannot provide full content through RSS. We provide a mixture of headlines and additional information equivalent to what is available on our public website. As a client, of course you can click on any link and (if your subscription allows) access full content that way.
Can I integrate your content/headlines into my website/portal?
The terms of use of our RSS do not permit you to integrate any of our content, including headlines, into your own website, portal or other means of distribution unless you have our permission. To seek our permission, please contact us.
What can RSS do for my organisation?
Companies have the same problem as individuals, only on a larger scale. It’s great if we can deliver content customised to our user’s interests, whether through an internet portal, by email or direct to their desktops. Many companies aggregate content from external providers on behalf of their users. And this task gets a lot easier when your external content partners provide content as an RSS feed. If your organisation has or would like a subscription to Oxford Analytica’s Daily Brief Services, and wants to talk to us about ways of using our content in these ways, we encourage you to get in touch. Please note that if you are not the end-user of the content, you must request our permission before you integrate our content.
How can I quickly add Oxford Analytica feeds to iGoogle or Google Reader?
iGoogle is a service from Google allowing you to personalise a "search portal" with mini-applications such as stock trackers, and content from news and other providers. Owing to its popularity, we have provided a short cut for you if you use this service. If you want to add any feed to iGoogle, just click on the 
icon next to the 
feed, and then select the 
button at the top right. If you're not sure which feeds to add, start with the list of RSS feeds on this page.
Here are a few useful shortcuts to our most recent and regional analysis:
How can I get started with RSS?
Software to read RSS
For convenience of Oxford Analytica users, we provide links to some popular RSS-reading tools in this section. We do not endorse any product, nor can we give detailed advice on how to install such tools
.
The first thing you will need is an RSS reader. There are three kinds:
- A web-based RSS reader. If you don’t have rights to install software on your computer, or you want your feeds to be accessible from anywhere there’s an internet connection, choose a web-based RSS reader such as Google Reader, NewsGator. These are usually free, although some may charge for options or storage. This would in general be the recommended approach for beginners. If you use Google, see below for more help.
- A software RSS reader. This is a program you need to install on your computer. These products tend to offer a slightly faster and more customisable interface. Both free and pay versions are available. FeedDemon is the most popular pay-version. FeedReader is a popular free reader for Windows. Shrook is one for Macintosh. Several products will integrate with your email client, presenting the feeds in a familiar environment. Newsgator Inbox is one such product which integrates with Outlook.
- A browser which can read RSS. Some modern web browers (Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 (at the time of writing, only in beta)) can handle RSS files in special ways. Usually reading RSS in this way offers less functionality than the other two options.
A very long list of RSS readers, including options for mobile use, can be found at allrss.com . Some of the readers come with large “starter-kits†of useful RSS feeds.
An Oxford Analytica RSS link
In various places around the Oxford Analytica site you may see RSS feeds.
In many browsers you will be able to drag into your news reader, but guaranteed to work is to right click on , choose Copy Shortcut (or Copy Location), which will put the URL for the feed in your clipboard. How you add this feed will differ depending on your feed reader, but all will have a New Feed, or “Enter Feed URL here” options where you can paste the URL. If you’re not sure, check your documentation. Different readers will vary on how you check, or automate checking, for new content into your feed. But essentially that’s it! Now you can configure as many feeds from Oxford Analytica as you like.
Other RSS links
Many of the most well-known news sites offer RSS feeds, along with many other sites. Most sites will indicate where they have RSS feeds using any of the following images
Many will also have a help link nearby.
