Transcript Document

Program Assessment User Session Experts (PAUSE)
Subscription Services: RSS and Email Subscription Services
October 3-5, 2006
Your Hosts
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Joe Peters, ITS JPO
Brian Philips, Mitretek Systems
Rob Maccubbin, Mitretek Systems
Jeff Trombly, SAIC
Juan Noltenius, SAIC
Matthew Rohrbach, Volpe Center/Cambridge Systematics
Agenda
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• Agenda and Introductions
1:00
• Background Questionnaire Review
1:15
• RSS and Email Subscription Services
1:20
• Subscribing to RSS Feeds (a live demo / discussion)
2:00
• Subscribing to E-mail Service (a live demo / discussion)
2:10
• Subscription Services Testing and Wrap-up
2:20
PAUSE Participants – Fall 2006
Group 1 – October 3rd
Group 2 – October 4th
Group 3 – October 5th
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Thomas Kane Des Moines Area
MPO
Doug Ito San Joaquin Council of
Governments
David Crout TriMet
Susan Slye FHWA
Tom Stout FHWA
Alan Hansen FHWA Arizona
Division Office
Mac Lister FHWA - National
Resource Center - Olympia Field
Amy Polk Cairo Corporation
Bill Rouck Cairo Corporation
William Anderson ITS America
Shelley Row ITE
Ron Herrington Lexington-Fayette
Co.
Michelle Birdsall Institute of
Transportation Engineers
Patrick McGowan Telvent
Farradyne Inc.
Marianna Rizzo FHWA Office of
Operations
Harry Crump FHWA Office of
Operations
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Peggy Tadej NARC
Steve Fern Suburban Mobility Authority
for Regional Transportation (SMART)
Kevin McGinnis National Association of
State EMS Officials
Marshall Elizer National Association of
State EMS Officials
Robert Ferlis FHWA
Margaret Petrella Volpe Center
Stephen Clinger FHWA
Chris Cluett BATTELLE
Michael Harris Parsons Brinckerhoff
Phil Shapiro BMISG
Kenny Voorhies Cambridge
Systematics
Jaime Kopf TRAC Research Engineer
Galen Mcgill Oregon DOT
Deryl Mayhew UDOT- Traffic
Operation Center
Joe Foster District of Columbia DOT
Skip Yeakel Volvo Trucks North
America
Michael Curran Inside ITS
Bernie Wagenblast Shadow Traffic
Metro Networks
Quon Kwan FMCSA
Steve Austin Emergency Responder
Safety Institute
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Dave Kristick E-470 Public
Highway Authority
Alan King Lochner
Jesse Glazer FHWA/FTA Metro
Office
Emiliano Lopez FHWA
Ray Murphy FHWA
Carol Zimmerman BATTELLE
Jim Barbaresso Odetics
John Hibbard PBS&J
Ed McCormack Washington
State Transportation Center,
University of Washington
John Ishimaru University of
Washington
Mike Akridge Florida DOT
Sheryl Wilkerson YGOMI LLC
Marty Lege’ North Texas Tollway
Authority
Matt Burt Battelle
How Frequently Returning PAUSE Members Use KR Websites
Frequency of Use of ITSJPO Knowledge Resource Websites
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Number of People
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Never
Seldom
Monthly
Frequency of Use
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n = 14 responses
Weekly
Daily
Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results
Familiarity with RSS (Real Simple Syndication)
Not sure
23%
Yes
57%
No
20%
n = 44 responses
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Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results
Familiarity with Email Subscription Services
No
18%
Not sure
0%
Yes
82%
n = 44 responses
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Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results
Any questions about the homework?
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Subscription Services – Covered Topics
• Need for Subscription Services
• Overview of RSS – RSS and Knowledge Resources
– What is RSS?, Benefits / Limitations, and How RSS works
• Demo of RSS
• What is the Email Subscription Service?
– What is it?, Benefits / Limitations, and How the Email Subscription
Service works
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Joe Subscribes to RSS Feeds (a live demo / discussion)
Joe Subscribes to E-mail Service (a live demo / discussion)
Introduce concept of testing the Subscription Services
Ask for participation in testing
Survey
Background on Need for Subscription Services
• Diversity and breadth of knowledge
• Applications Overview – 16 categories >> 176 specific
applications (see http://www.itsoverview.its.dot.gov/)
• Lessons Learned – 9 Lesson Categories >> 45 categories (see
http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/)
• States – see information by the 50 states (see
http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/its/benecost.nsf/LessonStateH
ome)
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Background on Need for Subscription Services
• Applications Overview – 16 categories >> 176 specific applications
(see http://www.itsoverview.its.dot.gov/)
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Background on Need for Subscription Services
• Lessons Learned – 9 Lesson Categories >> 45 sub-categories (see
http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/)
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Background on Need for Subscription Services
• States – show information by the 50 states (see
http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/its/benecost.nsf/LessonStateHome)
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An Overview of RSS – RSS and Knowledge Resources
• RSS allows you to receive selected "news items", such as:
– "What's new" in Knowledge Resources (e.g., Costs,
Benefits and Lessons Learned KRs)
– ITS-related news items from Bernie Wagenblast's
Transportation Communication Newsletter
– Application Area news items (e.g., Arterial Management >
Traffic Control)
– Lesson Category news items (e.g., Design and
Deployment > System Design)
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An Overview of RSS – What is RSS?
• RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” (but can also stand for
“Rich Site Summary”, or “RDF Site Summary”)
• Works as an automated way to see "What's New" on a Web site
– Requires a sender (manual or automated) and a subscriber
• Also used as a method for distributing headline content and data
between sites
• Commonly used for news items and web log (“Blog”)
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An Overview of RSS – Benefits and Limitations of RSS
• Benefits
– Users can create customized news feeds that show only topics of
individual interest
– When this is performed for many sites, a customized view of information
from many sources is aggregated in one place
– This can save time over accessing many sites daily in order to discover
new items
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An Overview of RSS – Benefits and Limitations of RSS
• Limitations
– 82% in a recent survey did not know what RSS was*
– Requires work to set up the RSS reader
– Requires work to identify sites to get news items from
* http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115075895691584597-J7Zkgfyy0QteJpjOz_Obi7mmUH0_20060627.html?mod=blogs
– Lee Gomes of Wall Street Journal
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An Overview of RSS – How RSS Works
• Originating site creates an RSS “feed” or “channel,” which is an XML file
accessed by a standard URL.
– An RSS file consists of a list of items, each of which contains a title,
description and a link to a web page
– Date information
• Users instruct their RSS tool to “subscribe” to the feed.
– Tool automatically accesses and downloads new file(s) for each
subscription and parses them to show summary and headline information
in a convenient, easily viewed format.
– User can then access more detail by navigating to content source from
the RSS tool
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RSS – Washington Post Technology source
New Washington Post
Technology Channel
Story
Channel =
WashingtonPost.com –
Technology
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RSS – Transportation Communications Newsletter source
Channel = Intelligent
Infrastructure – Arterial
Management Systems –
Traffic Control
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New TCN news story
for Traffic Control
application area
channel
RSS – Lessons Learned Knowledge Resource source
Channel = Intelligent
Infrastructure – Arterial
Management Systems –
Traffic Control
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New Lessons Learned
entry for Traffic Control
application area channel
Summary of Differences between RSS and Applications
Overview
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Applications Overview
RSS
• Archival
• Searchable, for all information,
not just new information
• Accessed via browser
• Only new items
• Tailored to your interests
regarding the types of ITS
information you receive
• Links to some stories may expire
over time
• Accessed through an RSS
reader and browser
RSS – Experiences Using It?
• Has anyone used RSS?
• Anyone want to share their experiences (good or bad)?
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An Overview of the Email Subscription Service – What is it?
• Email Subscription Service is a method to distribute targeted and
timely information to a subscriber using ordinary email
– Subscriber selects subject and frequency of email receipt
• Uses any email account
– No need to install specialized software
– No need to establish new email account
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An Overview of Email Subscription Service – How does it work?
• Subscriber accesses webpage that describes the process for signing
up to receive email
– User provides email address and selects topic or topics of interest
– User specifies frequency of email receipt (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly.)
• Emails sent to address provided by user according to user specified
schedule
– User may modify or cancel email receipt at any time
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An Overview of Email Subscription Service – Benefits and Limitations
• Benefits
– Subscribers automatically receive information via email
– Information may be compiled from several sources and consolidated into
a single email
– This can save time over accessing many sites daily in order to discover
new items
• Limitations
– Email could be considered spam
– User can be overwhelmed by amount of email received (independent of
this service) and the emails from this service could get lost in email in-box
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Summary of Differences between RSS and Applications
Overview
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Applications Overview
RSS
• Archival
• Searchable, for all information,
not just new information
• Accessed via browser
• Only new items
• Tailored to your interests
regarding the types of ITS
information you receive
• Links to some stories may expire
over time
• Accessed through an RSS
reader and browser
Summary of Differences between Email Subscription
Service and Applications Overview
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Applications Overview
Email Subscription Service
• Archival
• Searchable, for all information,
not just new information
• Accessed via browser
• Only new items
• Tailored to your interests
regarding the types of ITS
information you receive
• Links to some stories may expire
over time
• Accessed through email system
and browser
Thoughts on RSS or Email Subscription Service?
• Thoughts or feedback on RSS or Email Subscription Service
• Any questions?
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Subscribing to RSS Feeds & Email Subscription Service
• Subscribing to RSS Feeds (a live demo / discussion)
• Subscribing to Email Subscription Service (a live demo / discussion)
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Testing of Subscription Services
• The results would then be used to modify and enhance the RSS and
Email subscription service prototypes to better suit users’ needs.
• Participants can subscribe to either the RSS or Email Subscription
Service, or both.
• Participants will be given a tutorial on RSS and/or Email Subscription
Service to help them get set up RSS or ESS and participate in the
testing
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Testing of Subscription Services
• Results used to modify and enhance RSS and Email subscription
service prototypes to better suit Users’ needs.
• Participants can subscribe to either the RSS or Email Subscription
Service, or both.
• Participants will be given a an overview and instructions on RSS
and/or Email Subscription Service to help them get set up RSS or
ESS and participate in the testing.
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Testing of Subscription Services – Process
Steps involved in helping to test the RSS and Email subscription
services:
1. Indicate your interest in participating in testing the RSS or the Email
subscription service, or both.
2. Receive email from Volpe on participation details
3. Install RSS reader software / subscribe to channels, and/or
subscribe to email service.
4. Use RSS and/or Email subscription service.
5. Record comments on your usage in electronic journal.
6. Complete two on-line surveys.
7. Receive our thanks for participating, and a summary presentation on
RSS and Email subscription service.
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Background Questionnaire - Part 2
Please fill out this questionnaire.
7 minutes
Questionnaire link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=756132568151
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Thoughts, Questions, or Comments?
• Additional thoughts on RSS?
• Additional thoughts on the Email Subscription Service?
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Next Meeting Dates
• Next meetings: Tuesday October 17 & Wednesday October 18
• Information sessions on testing RSS & Email Subscription
Services
– Question and Answer sessions
– Answer questions on the procedures and technical issues with
using the Subscription Services
– Strictly optional
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