RSS Podcasts and Vids Oh My Government Web

RSS, Podcasts, and Vids, Oh, My! Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 Jeffrey Levy National Web Content Manager Environmental Protection Agency

News feeds (aka RSS) o Stands for “really simple syndication” n n o o That’s pretty meaningless Really means “put my headlines and summaries on someone else’s Web page … automatically” One way to “write once, publish many” “News feed” is more common term Uses an XML file with standard fields Best produced by a database, but can be done by hand Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 2

News feeds (aka RSS) cont’d o Great for regularly-updated material with a set format n n n o Not so good for n n o Constantly-changing layouts Infrequent announcements EPA’s news releases feeds n o News releases Program updates Recent additions / what’s new on the site http: //www. epa. gov/newsroom/rssfeeds. htm MUCH easier to see than describe Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 3

XML Source (tagged like HTML) Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 4

News Feed in Action EPA’s Web site Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 My i. Google 5

How to Find and Use Feeds o o o Look for either of these icons Right-click to copy shortcut or link Paste into your news reader, My Yahoo, i. Google, etc. Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 6

How to Create Feeds o o o Get a coder who knows XML Have her study other feeds Have her create a database to automatically generate it n o Or manually create it (works for short term) Not worth site manager learning technical details (in my opinion) Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 7

What to Measure o o o Not quite sure Feedburner, other services seem to offer stats, but haven’t investigated appropriate use yet Always need to check with legal before using free services Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 8

Podcasts o o Audio files that can be downloaded and listened to on a computer or handheld player Various lengths: minutes to an hour Various sound, production quality Specifics depend on your capabilities and commitment level epa. gov/earthday/podcasts Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 9

Podcasts cont’d o Consistency is key for a given podcast series n n n o Like news feeds, best for recurring content (at least weekly) n n n o One theme Same speaker (or different every time) Same quality and length Regular programming Weekly updates Time-limited but regular series of items Not so good for n n One-time recordings Set of recordings bearing no relation to each other Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 10

Podcasts and Subscriptions o Make it subscribable by creating an XML file n n o Some argue podcasts must be subscribable or they’re not “real” podcasts n o o Instead of content being text, it’s a sound file People copy URL for XML file into sound manager software (e. g. , i. Tunes) See “it’s not a blog if you can’t comment!” and similar passionate arguments Subscriptions definitely increase traffic As with text, subscriptions help you create it once and have multiple sites helping you get your material out Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 11

i. Tunes o o o i. Tunes is very well known Subscribing to i. Tunes is a bit of a process, but worth it i. Tunes will pick up revised XML file automatically Slightly different set of tags for i. Tunes vs. other news readers, but can use one XML file for both Again, have technical staff do it Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 12

What to Measure o o Downloads Appearances in Google search Appearances in blogs Compare to other outlets (e. g. , fact sheets) Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 13

Photo and Video Sharing o o o Photos: Flickr, Shutterfly, Kodak, Others Video: You. Tube, Google, Others Site owners create database Members provide content Community-building features n n n n o Comments Friends Shared picture sets (called “pools” on Flickr) Privacy controls Categories, other forms of user-generated sorting Discussion forums Ratings (quality, G/PG/R/X, etc. ) Contests Issue for gov’t use: indemnification clauses Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 14

Gov’t Example: Photo Contest o o o o EPA Earth Day Photo Contest http: //www. epa. gov/earthday/photocontest Three categories, each with a Flickr group The public submitted photos Categories received 200, 249, and 270 entries EPA judges chose 10 finalists in each category We created three new groups for the finalists The public scored finalists by leaving comments with 1 -10 (10 being the highest) We tallied the scores; highest average won in each category Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 15

Winner: Enjoying the Environment Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 16

Winner: Protecting the Environment Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 17

Winner: Nature and Wildlife Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 18

Some Problems with Flickr o For contest, many people created new accounts n n o Entrants use their user names n o Until Flickr reviews new accounts, photos don’t show up Had to answer numerous emails about it Some didn’t check Flickr’s email system, so we still don’t know their real names No automated scoring mechanism, so had to tally by hand Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 19

EPA You. Tube Channel o o Excited to start, but reality set in We have a channel: usaepagov n o Still working on strategy to “feed the beast” n n o Even before you start, grab your agency’s name; epa and usepa were both taken Audience is surprisingly diverse in age, so not necessarily aiming at young people Still want to have content typical to You. Tube Video creation is complex n Still thinking, leading interagency group Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 20

NOAA’s Ocean Explorer Channel o NOAA Ocean Explorer http: //youtube. com/oceanexplorergov n n n They’re producing video anyway, besides for You. Tube Interesting to public Tight linkage to normal Web site o On channel home page o Within each video’s text description Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 21

Interagency Web Manager Group o o Exploring guidelines Working with You. Tube on legal issues like indemnification Researching channel look and feel options (You. Tube normally charges huge sums for customizable design) Contact Kay Morrison n n 202 -564 -7821 morrison. kay@epa. gov Government Web Managers Conference and Best Practice Awards May 5 -6, 2008 22