What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a free and easy way to promote and distribute your documents to others with no additional effort. Population and Health InfoShare provides this service for free as a way to further increase the distribution of important information submitted by our Contributing Partners.

Anyone who wishes can simply copy the code provided on the Population and Health InfoShare site (when you click the XML button) to display the most recent InfoShare documents on their own web pages. This is called an RSS feed. Every time InfoShare Partners submit a new document to the site, the RSS feed that others see also updates automatically, so people elsewhere can see the latest InfoShare or Partner materials instantly without having to visit the site or wait for their monthly email digest of new InfoShare materials.

On InfoShare, people can get an RSS feed of all documents, documents by Topic, or of the documents submitted by any particular Partner. This is another effective way for InfoShare Partners to publish and disseminate their documents to a wider audience automatically.

Technically speaking, RSS is an XML-based format for content distribution. Webmasters create an RSS file containing headlines and descriptions of specific information. RSS is a defined standard based on XML with the specific purpose of delivering updates to web-based content. Using this standard, webmasters provide headlines and fresh content in a succinct manner. Meanwhile, consumers use RSS readers and news aggregators to collect and monitor their favorite feeds in one centralized program or location.

RSS is becoming increasingly popular. The reason is fairly simple. RSS is a free and easy way to promote a site and its content without the need to advertise or create other content sharing partnerships. Population and Health InfoShare provides this services free to its Contributing Partners as a way to further increase the distribution of important information.