This icon is the link to the syndicated information. The icon's link is an RSS (Rich Site Summary) format XML file that can be used on other web sites that support the RSS format. The link is a pure XML file and is generally not of much use to a web browser by itself.

Newspapers rely on syndication for their content. They use the Associated Press (AP) for news and almost all of the comics and social elements come from syndicated sources. Why? Because it gives them much more value and increases their subscriptions without them having to hire more reporters and writers. The same is true with web sites too.

Cybergrass® has placed its Events Calendar, News, Copyright and Forums under RSS syndication. When music promoters place events or news on Cybergrass, the information no longer remains only on one web site with limited exposure. The event or news becomes available to the entire Internet news community.

All bluegrass music sites are invited to incorporate our FREE content into their own sites. This allows smaller sites to carry more quality information for their own readers. All Cybergrass News, Calendar events, Copyright News and Forums are RSS Syndicated. See the rest of this FAQ on Syndication [XML] for more information on how you can subscribe and contribute.

In order to view the content, you'll want to use a News Aggregator or use a web site (see below) script to parse the information. To integrate it into your own web site as a feature, you'll need to get or build a package that can 'read' the XML data and represent it properly. We offer sample javascript on our Downloads area (see below) that will get you up and running quickly and easily.

To make it easy, our RSS section in Downloads contains some sample news, calendar and reviews HTML files you may use. The parameters of colors, size and such are configurable to allow the feeds to fit your site properly. The functionality is implemented using a simple javascript piece of code that accesses our server to deliver the content to your web site. Updates are automatic and there is basically nothing you need to do other than configure the script for your site. Colors are in standard web #rrggbb format. We also have a sample Style Sheet if you want a bit more control over the look of the feeds. This is also available on our Downloads area (right click the link and save to disk). You must be a registered user to access the Downloads area.

If your web site supports RSS/RDF then you simply add the link of the orange XML icon to your web site and set the time for it to poll for updates. Your web site must support RSS in order to use this featue.

Depending on whether your site is Windows based or Linux/Unix-Apache based, there are several packages for both platforms that will allow you to integrate RSS RDF into your existing web site. Search the Internet for RSS RDF XML to help locate the right package for you. Please see www.syndic8.com for more information and locations of various packages that may help you.

Our Feeds use ISO-8859-1 or Windows character encodings so be sure you set that parameter for your reader on your web site or it may break due to symbol characters within the content.

Through our server's engine, we provide a work sheet to help you get started. Using this mechanism, we do all the work on our server and deliver the feed direct to you. This is a cached feed that is updated hourly reducing the load on both your and our server. We will be happy to assist you in getting our feeds onto your site.

Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication are all used with the acronym RSS. RSS is an XML application designed for sharing news across web sites in a standard manner that preserves the original source location and gives credit where credit is due. Search Google or some other web search engine for more information on what it is and how to use it.

One main clearinghouse for RSS feeds is at Syndic8.com and also reflects use on Yahoo and other sources. In July, 2003, Cybergrass was the only bluegrass music resource using RSS Syndication. More have joined since. If you have news for the world, post it on Cybergrass for easy distribution.

Users may use a variety of news "aggrigator" software. There are more programs every day. Some of the more common programs are:
AmphetaDesk
NewsGator.

For more information visit Syndic8.com's product descriptions page.

Some of the larger feeds will be capturing our data. One of the oldest is Moreover.com who includes us in their general news information. Others are added as content improves. Currently, MSNBC, MSN, Moreover, Topix, NewsIsFree, RadioUserLand, Feedster, and many others all receive our feeds at regular intervals. Users using News Aggrigator packages may access our information any time they want.

YES! At the current time, we are not licensing our feeds. This could change in the future but as of now, we see no reason to do so. If the load gets too high on the server due to thousands of people grabbing the feeds, we will license them to reduce the load. Primary distribution services like Moreover.com, NewIsFree.com, RadioUserLand.com and others will not be required to license the feeds however a multitude of private web sites would be required to but only if the accesses get out of control.

All users of the feeds must give full credit to Cybergrass as the source, link directly to our home page URL, www.cybergrass.com. Web sites are not allowed copy the content information to your own site. Web sites must capture and present the RSS data. The feeds must direct the reader back to the original article on our site (the resource). The information is copyright Cybergrass and all rights - including RSS data are protected.

We reserve the right to deny access to our feeds to any site. We will not link to our RSS feeds where the use may be offensive to bluegrass or where it casts a negative impression on Cybergrass or the genres we represent. If you do link to our RSS feeds, you must notify us that you are doing so. Your links will show up in our referrer logs.

If you want to contribute a news story, event or other content, just submit it normally. Some areas require that you be registered to submit content but the calendar is a free service to all readers of Cybergrass. Once your news or event is accepted, it becomes immediately available through our RSS syndication feeds.

Note that only the current 10 news articles and events for the next 14 days are available through RSS. As the content or day changes, the RSS data automatically updates so there is nothing you need to do on your site to keep it current.

Many web sites, news distribution services and news aggregators use Cybergrass syndicated information. Though not every site uses every story or event, some make more use than others. That's the best part about syndicated content.

Here are just a few examples...

MSN Newsbot and MSNBC Newsbot
My News | My Wire Service
Topix Bluegrass News, Feedster
Bluegrass Austraila, Cornish Bluegrass Association (UK) and Rimamedia (Italy) and more
Jack Sanbower & The No Leeway Band News Page, Banjoist Rick Briggs and others.
Moreover and News Knowledge
News is Free and SOAP Resources
MY Yahoo RSS Headlines (Beta)
and many more.

Syndication works on various principles. One is that articles are indexed much like search engines. Keywords in the first paragraph are essential to getting your story captured and placed in the proper category. Since there are no meta tags with individual stories, the only thing the news distributors have to go on is the content itself.

If you're writing a story about a bluegrass festival, be sure and include "bluegrass music" somewhere near the beginning of the article. If the story is about folk music, banjos or whatever, be sure and include the exact word or phrase in the beginning of the article. This way services like Moreover.com will properly catalog your story for others to read.