contentious.com

As I’ve mentioned before, the potential uses of webfeeds (such as RSS feeds) extend far, far beyond merely announcing fresh content from weblogs and Web sites. Webfeeds can be used to announce any kind of content – including events.

Well, of course some clever developers have given this matter some consideration. The result of that so far is that Rahul Singh has built a tool that pulls information from an event-oriented webfeed directly into a Microsoft Outlook calendar. It’s called RSS2Outlook.

I’m mentioning this because it’s a very cool concept with a lot of potential uses. Please bear in mind that RSS2Outlook is only a bare-bones, unwarrantied demo right now – it’s not definitely finished or full-featured. (In other words, download it at your own risk.) I’m not using it myself because I’m moving away from all Microsoft products.

Still, it’s an intriguing concept. Here are some examples of how it might be put to use, if developed properly…

EVENT WEBFEED TO CALENDAR: POTENTIAL USES

As long as you could embed a fair a mount of detail (such as setting reminders, including contact information, hyperlinks, etc.) for each event listed on a feed; and as long as all of that detail could get reliably imported into a recipient’s calendar, here are some cool ways to use this kind of tool for communication.

• A tax preparer could compile the year’s relevant upcoming tax deadlines, set reminders for them, and publish that information via webfeed to its clients and potential clients. Clients who could integrate that information into their own calendars would receive considerable benefits in an easy and convenient way. The tax preparer might even offer different webfeeds for various client types – such as self-employed, small business, retired, etc. They also could provide relevant IRS and state tax form names, and links to those forms and instructions online.

• For concert promotion, a music promoter, concert venue, or local newspaper that publishes an event calendar could offer webfeeds for various categories of local shows: jazz concerts, children’s music, major festivals, a popular local band’s schedule, etc. Each event listed on the feed would include the venue name and location, date, information about advance ticket sales and prices (with advance reminders of these), and contact information. Music fans in that region then could subscribe to the feeds which best suit their taste. Then they would get reminders automatically popping up on their calendar like this one: “Tomorrow, tickets go on sale for Ani DiFranco at Red Rocks Ampitheater, Aug. 6! More info or buy now from Ticketmaster.”

• A professional association could notify its members of upcoming conference registration deadlines, important industry events, chapter meetings, board elections, and dues payment deadlines.

• An advocacy group lobbying on controversial legislation or regulations could announce via webfeed important upcoming votes, hearings, comment deadlines, and other relevant events or activities to help citizens take action.

• A corporation could use this strategy to remind people about upcoming major events such as webcasts, annual reports, sales or promotions, and trade shows.

• A government agency could use this strategy to remind businesses or individuals of important hearings, program events, new regulatory requirements, etc.

• A local government could use this strategy to help citizens participate in community meetings, local elections, and particular local issues.

…I think you get the picture. Once again, new tools open yet more creative and useful content possibilities. I love it.

(Thanks to Lockergnome for this link, which came by way of Infosential.)