What is ProjectDisaster.Com ?

A place for news and discussion regarding disasters, terrorism, emerging infectious diseases, disaster response, mitigation and preparedness. The hosts of ProjectDisaster include: Paul Rega, MD, FACEP, Kelly Burkholder-Allen, RN, MSEd, and Churton Budd, RN, EMTP. Guest authors are also invited to submit articles and comments. Many of the postings originate from excerpts from the popular press with commentary by the ProjectDisaster team. Many articles come from information gathered through Internet listserv messages, news alerts and E-Magazines the team subscribes to.

Using ProjectDisaster as a medium, the team is able to aggregate items of interest to the disaster response community in one place, and with a wide variety of topics that include, Terrorism, Emerging Infections, Lessons Learned, Mitigation and Preparedness, Bioterrorism / Chemical / Nuclear agents, HAZMAT, Incident Command, etc. Additionally, the team is making use of cutting edge technologies such as RSS Feeds, BLOG’s, WiKi’s, PodCasts and VideoBlogs to deliver this information to you.

What is an RSS Feed ?

To retrieve the RSS feed, point your news aggregator program at: http://projectdisaster.com/wp-rss.php

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and an RSS feed is an XML file format for web syndication used by news websites and weblogs for sharing headlines and other Web content. RSS Feeds are used to provide items containing short descriptions of web content together with a link to the full version of the content. RSS has evolved into a popular means of sharing content between sites (including the BBC, CNET, CNN, Disney, Forbes, Motley Fool, Wired, Red Herring, Salon, Slashdot, ZDNet, and more). RSS solves myriad problems webmasters commonly face, such as increasing traffic, and gathering and distributing news. RSS can also be the basis for additional content distribution services. As XML is not really a readable file format for humans, you need to use a NEWS READER or News Aggregator program. With these programs, you can add the addresses of various news feeds you wish to monitor. As new messages are posted to these news sources, the news reader pulls them in automatically for you and alerts you, usually by a pop-up on your desktop, that there is new news.

If you don’t already have an RSS Reader or News Aggregators, here are some we suggest:

GoogleReader Allows you to put your news feeds on your Google Home Page (Web)

NetNewsWire This elegant Mac-like aggregator is easy to use and powerful.

SharpReader Simple, but gets the job done. (Win)

Straw The best aggregator for GNOME. (Linux)

Bloglines Check all your feeds from any web browser. (Web)

AmphetaDesk A news aggregator you access through a web browser. (Mac/Win/Linux)

FeedDemon A more complicated aggregator for Windows. (Win)

FeedReader Like SharpReader, but sporadically updated. (Win)

NewsGator Read the news from within Microsoft Outlook. (Win)

NewsWatcher Based on Scopeware technology. (Win)

News Is Free Lets you create your own customized news page with feeds from the sites you’re interested in. (Web)

Novobot A smart headline viewer and news ticker that can also process almost any website. (Win)

Radio UserLandA full-stregth news-reading application, on your desktop. (Mac/Win)

rss2email Reads RSS feeds and sends each new item to you as an email. (Unix)

dynamicobjects spaces Displays RSS feeds in an Outlook-like interface. (Mac/Win/Lin)

What is a PODCASTS ?

You can point your I-Tunes or podcast aggregator software at:

http://projectdisaster.com/?feed=rss2&category_name=podcast

to download the podcast files.

What is a podcast?

Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. Podcasts are distributed using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats.

The term podcast, like “radio”, can mean both the content and the method of delivery. The host or author of a podcast is often referred to as a “podcaster”.

Podcasters’ web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their files. However, a podcast is distinguished by its ability to be downloaded automatically using software capable of reading RSS or Atom feeds.

Usually the podcast features one type of “show”, with new episodes either sporadically or at planned intervals, such as daily or weekly. In addition to this, there are podcast networks that feature multiple shows on the same feed. One can listen to a podcast either on a computer or on a mobile audio device (such as an iPod).

Podcasting’s essence is about creating content (audio or video) for an audience that wants to listen or watch when they want, where they want, and how they want.

The podcast material is downloaded to your Apple Ipod, your MP3 Player, or viewed directly on your computer through the browser or on your desktop via a media player such as Windows Media Player or Quicktime. If you have an Ipod, you already are probably familiar with iTunes which you use to download music. You can also use iTunes to download podcasts. If you have a TiVo, there is a new feature under Special Features that allows you to subscribe to podcasts and listen to them over your TiVo / TV.

What is a VideoBlog / Vlog ?

A vlog or video blog is a blog (short for weblog) which uses video as the primary content; the video is linked to within a videoblog post and usually accompanied by supporting text, image, and additional metadata to provide context. It has become a significant contributor to clip culture.

Blogs often take advantage of RSS or Atom for syndication to other web sites and aggregator software (feed readers). With development of RSS enclosures, which provide the ability to attach media files to a feed item/blog post, or the use of the Atom format (which supports rich media content by design) it is possible to bypass the mainstream intermediaries and openly distribute media to the masses via the Internet. Vlogs typically take advantage of this technological development, just as audioblogs have in recent years via the podcast boom.

The link at ProjectDisaster.com to the video blogs is pretty much the same link as to the podcasts. http://projectdisaster.com/?feed=rss2&category_name=podcast