Law School Digital Publishing Platforms Must Generate a RSS Feed
Law school digital publishing platforms need to include a RSS feed.
As part of sharing news of law school pro bono and community service work I noticed how many schools failed to include a RSS feed on their digital publications.
RSS? Real simple syndication is something included on virtually all digital publications ranging from the New York Times to law blogs.
Not having RSS on your platform is like having a radio station, but not using an antennae to reach people’s radios.
No RSS means I can’t get updates from your law school’s publications to my RSS reader and, in turn, share the good things you are doing.
I am not alone in the use of a RSS reader. Many of the busiest and most influential people in law use an RSS reader to save time, to learn and to network.
A RSS feed also gets your content to large content aggregators, publishers, libraries and, in the case of the law, to legal research and AI platforms.
As a law school, imagine telling your law professors, students and reporters, ”We’ll get your content up on the law school’s websites, but we’ll not let individuals and organizations receive your contributions in the way other law schools do for their contributors. A lot of people won’t see the good things you’re writing and doing.”
This morning, a law school told me they were committing to share news of their pro bono and community service work.
Unfortunately, they were doing so via a blog without a RSS feed.
I had suggested to them to apply to have their blog included in the Open Legal Blog Archive, the world’s library of legal blogs.
But unlike the thousands of legal blogs with RSS feeds in the Archive, their blog could not be included in the Archive because it lacked an RSS feed.
Whether a law school publication needs to have a RSS feed is not up for debate.
If you are lacking a RSS feed on your publications, talk to your publishing platform or web development folks.
I’d love to see a RSS feed on all law school digital publications.
The good work of law students, professors, admin’s and alums could then be seen a much wider basis.