Reading Rob’s post about one’s tendency to self-identify (or not) on a website, I’m reminded why RSS appeals to me and also how complex the existence of RSS is making things for information architects. RSS appeals to me in large measure because I can get the information I want without having to visit a website, and I can usually do it without revealing any personal information at all. This prompts me to wonder how often information architects consider those with a tendency not to self-identify, and how often RSS in particular is considered as a possible alternative and then crafted in fashion. Companies and institutions invest a lot in the IA of their websites, which is probably why I’ve never seen a call to action like, “Never want to visit our website again? Here’s a set of RSS feeds just for you.”

One of the things I stress when speaking with institutions about RSS (including here publicly) is the importance of remembering that the existence of RSS means that there will be those who visit your website one time, grab some feeds, and then never visit again. With more and more RSS directories online, more of us will grab RSS feeds without having visited an institution’s website even once. This demands that the RSS feed be designed to stand alone as an information resource even as it complements an institution’s web offerings. Among institutions, RSS is in the “me-too” stage, but it will soon move beyond this and become an object of dedicated craft in its own right, as it already has in a few places. As practice surrounding RSS matures, there will be a real need for tools that, for example, support templated-like inclusion of branding information in a manually maintained feed–but this is a topic for another post.