Program Assessment User Session Experts (PAUSE) Subscription Services: RSS and Email Subscription Services October 3-5, 2006

1
Program Assessment User Session Experts
(PAUSE)Subscription Services RSS and Email
Subscription Services October 3-5, 2006
2
Your Hosts

• Joe Peters, ITS JPO
• Brian Philips, Mitretek Systems
• Rob Maccubbin, Mitretek Systems
• Steve Gordon, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Jeff Trombly, SAIC
• Juan Noltenius, SAIC
• Matthew Rohrbach, Volpe Center/Cambridge
  Systematics

3
Agenda

• Agenda and Introductions 100
• Background Questionnaire Review 115
• RSS and Email Subscription Services 120
• Subscribing to RSS Feeds (a live demo /
  discussion) 200
• Subscribing to E-mail Service (a live demo /
  discussion) 210
• Subscription Services Testing and Wrap-up 220

4
PAUSE Participants Fall 2006
Group 1 October 3rd Group 2 October 4th Group 3 October 5th
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 Harry Crump FHWA Peggy Tadej NARC Steve Fern Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) Kevin McGinnis National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEO) Marshall Elizer NASEO 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 Bernie Wagenblast Shadow Traffic Metro Networks Quon Kwan FMCSA Steve Austin Emergency Responder Safety Institute William Anderson ITS America 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 PBSJ 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 Michael Curran Inside ITS

5
How Frequently Returning PAUSE Members Use KR
Websites

• n 14 responses

6
Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results

• n 44 responses

• n ?? responses

7
Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results

• n 44 responses

8
Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results

• Any questions about the homework?

9
Purpose of Session

• Proposing to add 2 new capabilities to our
  websites
• RSS
• Email Subscription Service
• Demonstrate prototype capabilities
• Ask you to help test the prototypes
• give feedback so we can make enhancements

10
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
• Joe Subscribes to RSS Feeds (a live demo /
  discussion)
• Joe Subscribes to E-mail Service (a live demo /
  discussion)
• Introduce concept of PAUSE testing the
  Subscription Services
• Ask for participation in testing
• Survey

11
Background on Need for Subscription Services

• Diversity and breadth of knowledge
• Applications Overview 16 categories gtgt 176
  specific applications (see http//www.itsoverview.
  its.dot.gov/)
• Lessons Learned 9 Lesson Categories gtgt 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
  /LessonStateHome)

12
Background on Need for Subscription Services

• Applications Overview 16 categories gtgt 176
  specific applications (see http//www.itsoverview.
  its.dot.gov/)

13
Background on Need for Subscription Services

• Lessons Learned 9 Lesson Categories gtgt 45
  sub-categories (see http//www.itslessons.its.dot.
  gov/)

14
Background on Need for Subscription Services

• States show information by the 50 states (see
  http//www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/its/benecost.nsf
  /LessonStateHome)

15
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 gt Traffic Control)
• Lesson Category news items (e.g., Design and
  Deployment gt System Design)

16
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)

17
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

18
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/SB1150758
  95691584597-J7Zkgfyy0QteJpjOz_Obi7mmUH0_20060627.h
  tml?modblogs
• Lee Gomes of Wall Street Journal

19
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

20
RSS Washington Post Technology source
New Washington Post Technology Channel Story
Channel WashingtonPost.com Technology
21
RSS Transportation Communications Newsletter
source
New TCN news story for Traffic Control
application area channel
Channel Intelligent Infrastructure Arterial
Management Systems Traffic Control
22
RSS Lessons Learned Knowledge Resource source
New Lessons Learned entry for Traffic Control
application area channel
Channel Intelligent Infrastructure Arterial
Management Systems Traffic Control
23
Summary of Differences between RSS and
Applications Overview
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

24
RSS Experiences Using It?

• Has anyone used RSS?
• Anyone want to share their experiences (good or
  bad)?

25
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

26
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

27
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

28
Summary of Differences between RSS and
Applications Overview
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

29
Summary of Differences between RSS and the Email
Subscription Service
Email Subscription Service RSS

• Only new items
• Tailored to your interests regarding the types of
  ITS information you receive
• Links to some stories may expire over time

• Delivered through email system and items
  clickable through a browser
• Duplicate news items are filtered out

• Accessed through an RSS reader and items
  clickable through a browser
• Duplicate news items may occur

30
Thoughts on RSS or Email Subscription Service?

• Thoughts or feedback on RSS or Email Subscription
  Service
• Any questions?

31
Subscribing to RSS Feeds Email Subscription
Service

• Subscribing to RSS Feeds (a live demo /
  discussion)
• Subscribing to Email Subscription Service (a live
  demo / discussion)

32
PAUSE Testing of Subscription Services

• Purpose Gather feedback to allow enhancements to
  the RSS and Email subscription service
  prototypes, to better suit your needs.
• Participants can subscribe to either the RSS or
  Email Subscription Service, or both.
• Participants will be given an overview and
  instructions on RSS and/or Email Subscription
  Service to help them set up RSS or the Email
  Subscription Service and participate in the
  testing.

33
PAUSE Testing of Subscription Services Process

• Steps involved in helping to test the RSS and
  Email subscription services
• Indicate your interest in participating in
  testing the RSS or the Email subscription
  service, or both.
• Receive email from Volpe on participation details
• Install RSS reader software / subscribe to
  channels, and/or subscribe to email service.
• Use RSS and/or Email subscription service.
• Record comments on your usage in electronic
  journal.
• Complete two on-line surveys.
• Receive our thanks for participating, and a
  summary presentation on RSS and Email
  subscription service.

34
Background Questionnaire - Part 2

• Please fill out this questionnaire. 7 minutes
• Questionnaire link
• http//www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u216512669973

35
Thoughts, Questions, or Comments?

• Additional thoughts on RSS?
• Additional thoughts on the Email Subscription
  Service?

36
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