NRC news releases and NRC Highlights articles are available through a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed that essentially "syndicates" news content so that headlines can be shared across multiple sites.

Users can download RSS readers which notify them of newly published NRC articles and allow them to go directly to the content so that they no longer need to check the NRC Web site repeatedly.

What is RSS?

Rich Site Summary (RSS) or as some refer to it, Real Simple Syndication, is an XML-based format for content distribution in real time. NRC News and Events feeds will include the date, title, summary and a link to the full news article. If after reading a summary you want to view the full text, simply link to the full text document found on the NRC Web site.

Why use RSS?

There are a number of benefits to using RSS, including:

• You select what news you want. RSS allows you to select the type of news and information you receive from websites.
• You determine when you get your news. Once you download your news reader, you can customize it to go and fetch the news every five minutes, or every hour - depending on how you want it.
• Cut down on spam. Because RSS requires you to download a news reader, you aren't subscribing to e-mail lists, which can increase your risk of getting unsolicited (spam) e-mail.

Using RSS to read NRC News and Highlights stories

RSS feeds are available on many major Web sites and personal Web logs. You can often recognize RSS feeds by the orange "XML" graphic similar to the one on the front page of Zone. For example, the Government of Canada publishes information on the Web site http://news.gc.ca/ and makes the same content available in an RSS feed, grouped by audience or region.

To download an RSS reader, go to http://www.rssreader.com/ and choose the software for your operating system.

You will need to enter the URL for the NRC News and Events feed:

• http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/newsroom/news/nrcnews_e.rss (English)
• http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/newsroom/news/nrcnews_f.rss (French)

Most programs will monitor the NRC Web site for new stories and notify you when one is published.

Instructions on Adding a News Feed to Your News Reader or Aggregator

1. Using your mouse, right click on the orange XML or RSS graphic.
2. From the pop-up menu that appears, choose:
   • Internet Explorer : "Copy Shortcut"
   • Firefox / Netscape / others : "Copy Link Location"
3. Launch your news aggregator or news reader application and paste the news feed URL into an "Add New Feed" window.

Detailed instructions on how to add news feeds are included in the news reader application that you choose. When news items are published to the NRC News and Events, your news reader/aggregator will let you know through a small pop-up window or other alert device. If you close your news reader/aggregator, you will not be advised of updates until the next time you open it. Unlike e-mail subscriptions, you are not required to provide personal information or an e-mail address to benefit from receiving news from the NRC News and Events.

More on RSS

For more details on RSS, try this useful FAQ or the RSS specification.