College researchers and public-relations officials are starting to take advantage of a new technology that can help get their news and information out more quickly and directly to the people who want them.

The technology, called RSS, is already in use on some news sites and Weblogs. But colleges are beginning to catch up.

Although RSS technology was invented about four years ago, its developers still haven't come to a consensus on what the abbreviation stands for. Some say it means "really simple syndication" and some say it stands for "rich site summary," while others have come up with other variations.

The technology allows users to receive information, similar to the way in which one would get messages from an e-mail discussion group, except that users decide who can send what.

For Web designers to use the technology, they must install software called an RSS generator. They can download the software from several Web sites (including http://www.prweb.com/rss.php and http://www.2rss.com/software.php). Then, every time the designer adds new information to an RSS-enabled Web site, the software writes a piece of computer code called an RSS feed.

In order to receive and read the RSS updates, users must download different software, an RSS aggregator, which is also free and widely available online. Examples of the software are on the Institute of Physics Web site (http://syndication.iop.org/about/software.cfm).

After the users select the sites from which they want to get updates by clicking links on those sites, the aggregator collects new information from the sites as often as the users want -- say, once every five minutes or every hour.

Better Than Surfing

In a stand-alone window on a user's screen, the aggregator generates a list of headlines as the updates come in. The user can scroll through the headlines and read a description of each one. When the user finds something interesting, a click of the mouse opens a summary, which offers a link to a Web page.

That beats surfing from Web site to Web site to see if anything new has been added. And some people prefer RSS to e-mail alerts because the users only get updates from a select group of Web sites and, therefore, don't receive unsolicited information.

But its usefulness is limited. RSS can't send information to people who haven't asked for it. And it isn't of much use for a Web site that doesn't change very often.

College public-relations offices, however, find RSS to be an effective way to distribute news about institutions. Administrators use it to inform students about campus news and events, such as sports and concerts. And some researchers are using it to share information with colleagues.

While no one tracks how many colleges are using RSS feeds, those that have it include Carleton College, Pacific University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, and the University of Nevada at Reno. And college officials note that the number of institutions employing the technology is growing.

Jeremy Trumble, Web-services manager at RIT, says that students there are getting the benefits of RSS without even knowing they're using it. Every student has the opportunity to create a Web portal that presents a personalized version of the university's Web site, similar to a My Yahoo page. During the customization, students decide which information they would like to have regularly updated. That tells an RSS reader built into the software which feeds to collect. About half the institution's students have created personalized versions of the Web site through which they get updates on campus news and events.

"Students live on the Web today," Mr. Trumble says. "They don't look for a paper. They don't go looking to find information. They want information brought to them."

Brian Koranda, a Web designer and producer at Carleton, uses the RSS feed to send out notices to the institution's alumni magazine and to provide students with a variety of information, including listings of campus events and movies at the local theater.

"It allows you to see a lot of updated information all at one time," he says. "It's only going to get bigger in the future."

Proponents of RSS praise its simplicity. William Grosso has written a book about software design and development and is also a member of the board of the Software Development Forum, a Silicon Valley organization that promotes the development of new technology. He says that RSS feeds help people find and organize what they like on the Internet.

"A Web site is a lot like a library, and an RSS feed is a lot like a card catalog," Mr. Grosso says. "Put a new book in the library. Put a new card in the card catalog. It's exactly the same idea."

The difference is that this card catalog forgoes the Dewey Decimal System and usually arranges the information in chronological order of when it was posted, starting with the most recent. Mr. Grosso says that that order is ideal for Web sites that are constantly updated. People usually want to find the latest information, he says.

Some colleges are using RSS to get their research findings out to the public more quickly and effectively. Texas A&M University, for example, uses RSS feeds to alert farmers and anyone else who is interested in agricultural news and research.

Blair L. Fannin, an assistant news editor and communications specialist for the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, which is run by the university, read about RSS feeds last summer and decided to add one to the station's Web site. "I am not a computer programmer at all," he says. "But I was fascinated with what this technology can do."

While many computer programmers say it takes an afternoon to set up the feed, Mr. Fannin spent a few weeks tinkering before he got it working right. Otherwise, it didn't cost the university anything. "That's the best part about it," he says. "It didn't cost a dime. It only cost me my time."

Information by Topic

Once people started signing up for the feed, he says, they were pleased. The university hasn't advertised its use of RSS, so only a handful of people, who found out about the feed on the university's Web site, have signed on. But those users get information on topics like crop-seed varieties, cattle research, and general improvements in agriculture, along with standard news releases. He says the university may begin a more-aggressive marketing campaign in the spring to promote its RSS feed.

"Technology is so important to getting the news out," Mr. Fannin says. "Agriculture is more than just crops and cattle."

Steve Cornett is the editor of Farm Journal's Beef Today, a publication for cattle farmers. He says the RSS feed makes it easier to get news updates from Texas A&M and other sources.

"It's like having an encyclopedia in the bookcase," he says. "It's right there."

But not everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. Gregory A. Jackson, chief information officer at the University of Chicago, says his university doesn't use RSS feeds and doesn't plan to, and he doesn't know of many institutions that do. He doesn't think there is anything wrong with the technology. He just hasn't found a need for it yet.

"I've heard some talk, but I haven't heard big bubbly talk," Mr. Jackson says. "We tend to be more modest than a lot of other places."

David P. Bobzien Jr., campus Webmaster for the University of Nevada at Reno, says his institution set up an RSS feed last spring. The university uses it to share calendar information stored on a university database that off-campus users can't gain access to. The RSS feed sends the information out to students and faculty members who want it. But Mr. Bobzien says that the university has done little to publicize the RSS feeds, so few people are using them.

"So far we're still in the experimental phase with it," Mr. Bobzien says. "It's kind of difficult for people to understand, so the evangelizing of it has been slow."