University Park, Pa. -- This month Information Technology Services (ITS) launched a newly packaged version of its electronic newsletter, TechNews, featuring a database-driven Web site that offers news, photos and graphics, plus automatic postings to subscribers' Web pages, PDAs and other handheld devices. The IT publication, which previously was available as a monthly e-mail newsletter, has been upgraded with RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology to provide subscribers with access to continually updated news links, wherever they choose to receive them.
"As Penn State's demand for portable news channels expands, ITS can now meet this need," said Gary Augustson, vice provost for Information Technology.
Along with the RSS feature, the revamped TechNews enables writers to include photos with their articles, and offers detailed search options for hundreds of articles that have been produced at ITS over the past five years. According to Augustson, one of the driving forces behind the change was the national trend toward electronic database-driven publishing, which makes it possible for readers to dynamically search and instantly obtain a variety of electronic news. In addition, a survey recently conducted by ITS indicated that 65 percent of the publication's subscribers preferred to receive alerts and notices more frequently, rather than compiled periodically as a monthly issue. The survey also found that one-third of the survey respondents were interested in learning how to set up and use RSS feeds.
The RSS-enabled TechNews has been designed to provide the Penn State community with a wide-spectrum of IT news including security and virus notices. For more information, visit http://its.psu.edu/technews/ online.