Chapter 11 in “Principles of Convergent Journalism” discussed the various forms of convergence, including RSS feeds, E-mail notification, text messaging, billboards and RBDS (radio broadcast data service).
RSS, or “really simple syndication,” or “rich site summary,” is an internet tool that provides content to users who have selected the tool and have chosen which information they would like to receive (188). RSS capabilities have become standard in browsers and the audience has broadened as RSS feeds become more available.
For example, a New York Times reader can customize their RSS feed to receive New York Times headlines. A celebrity gossip junkie can do the same by selecting to receive the perezhilton.com feed, too. These feeds are generated automatically by the publishing systems (189), usually when content is posted or updated, so the timing for an RSS feed is almost immediate.
E-mail notifications, like RSS, are generally personalized to the receiver. However news that is delivered in an E-mail notification is less frequent, as subscribers may receive one or two emails at a consistent time each day. E-mail news delivery may be more customized, however, as readers can often select what they would like to see in their emails.
Text messaging as a form of news delivery is limited in content, as texts allow fewer characters. Therefore stories are condensed and will often offer a way to find the extended version of a story. The book says that the options for timing content delivered via text includes immediate breaking news and content summaries in regular intervals (195).
Billboards are a much older form of media (197). However, they have gained popularity as billboards have the capability to deliver news via billboard. Billboards are limited to even fewer characters than text messages and therefore may only display one headline at a time. Further, these billboards are a clever marketing tool for news outlets, yet they have aroused concern for highway safety.
Radio broadcast data services are used to transmit short news updates. Traffic reports or the most frequent type of content tramsmitted. However, most radio stations are not equipped to receive the information, most listeners don’t look at their radios to see the information transmitted, and stations don’t bother to transmit information other than the call letters and information about the program (200).
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