It should be easy, but it ain't.
Ms. Dean's recent post about Neko Case got me thinking.
Just about every venue in town has a website where they post events, but almost NONE of those sites have an RSS feed.
If the Mitchell Auditorium, Marshall Performing Arts Center, Bayfront Park, the DECC, Movies in the Park, Sir Benedict's, Pizza Luce, Carmody, Teatro Zuccone, the Play Ground, etc., had RSS feeds on their websites, people like us could subscribe to them with our Google Reader or whatever, and always be informed about what's going on in town. Plus the information could be custom tailored to our specific individual interests.
That's how I read newspapers. That's how I read blogs. It should be how I find out about events, but it isn't.
Fitger's Brewhouse is the only site I can find with a valid feed. Burrito Union also has a feed, but I put it into my RSS reader and found myself subscribed to vegguide.org.
Amazing Grace has a section called "news feeds" but it's just a worthless part of the template they use, much like the "podcast" link at the bottom (there is no podcast).
The Orpheum has a feed, but the calendar hasn't been updated in months.
Why no feeds, Duluth?
Comments
Agreed.
What about twin ports night life dot com?
I have never been to the site, to be honest. But I spoke at length with the developer before it went online. They really hoped to be very thorough and complete in their listings and accuracy, etc.
What about the transistor?
Reader Weekly?
I'm obviously thinking of sites that are a "clearinghouse" as opposed to the venues themselves.
Either way, this is a good idea. I just learned about RSS feeds and that is how I get pdd and the DNT otherwise I would probably read them with far less frequency ... THe RSS dealie that I have been using for about 6 months now has brought my internet connection to the community and to professional organizations to a much richer level.
Posted by: JP | July 26, 2008 01:35 PM
RubberChickenTheater.com
Check it out. Complete with RSS feeds.
Posted by: Brian | July 26, 2008 02:20 PM
It probably has more to do with the sites being built on web 1.0 tech instead of 2.0., and less with them just not posting a feed. You need to be able to have timestamped posts in order to track them with RSS. At least, as far as I understand it.
Posted by: Zac Bentz | July 26, 2008 04:22 PM
the RSS feed I'd like to see is the DTA. They have an interactive "see you where your bus is now" feature but it's parsed in an arcane way. An RSS feed would allow me to DHTML it on a kiosk page at Harbor City School....when's the next east going bus going to be at stop 4W
Posted by: baci | July 26, 2008 04:27 PM
very true.
let me know when you add the feed for the pdd calendar would you barrett?
Posted by: Ryan | July 26, 2008 11:32 PM
I'll let you know when I delete that piece of crap calendar, Ryan. People use it, so I leave it up, but I'm not happy with it.
PDD really shouldn't be in the calendar business. Which is why there's a Transistor link on the sidebar.
Posted by: Barrett | July 27, 2008 02:34 AM
Time more than anything, IMO. It doesn't matter what you have if you don't have the people or volition to keep it updated.
Posted by: adam | July 27, 2008 01:04 PM
There are a ton of internet savvy people out there, but they're still a tiny minority of the general population. In fact, I'm willing to bet that more than half of the people who visit this site don't have any idea what a RSS feed even is. In the end, even if a local website wanted to include one, it probably wouldn't be worth the time and effort involved.
Hell, most local websites can't even keep their site up to date in the first place. How many times have you visited a website for some local business, only to find that their information is a year or more out of date?
Posted by: Cynic | July 27, 2008 07:24 PM
Just an FYI...Danny Does Duluth has an RSS feed:
www.dannydoesduluth.com
Posted by: Danny | July 28, 2008 08:18 AM
How does one set up an RSS feed?
Posted by: Lucie | July 29, 2008 05:59 PM
Most blogging and content-management systems come RSS-equipped. (The blog you link you, Lucie, already has an RSS feed, scroll to the bottom for the link.)
Otherwise, you can get one through feedburner.com. As Zac pointed out, though, your site needs to have timestamped posts.
RSS: 10-year-old technology coming some day to Duluth, Minnesota.
Posted by: Barrett | July 29, 2008 10:54 PM
I don't know. RSS always seemed to me as a bad way to approach the syndication paradigm.
Posted by: huitz | July 31, 2008 05:52 PM
huitz, I'm interested. How so?
Posted by: Nick | July 31, 2008 08:45 PM