News services
A news service is one which provides regular updates on topics commonly regarded as news, ie: those topics covered in newspapers and television or radio news broadcasts, such as current events, politics, sport etc.
News is a distinct category for current awareness because of the need for immediate notification of breaking events as well as regular summaries. There are a wide variety of news sites to choose from.
Three methods of delivery may be distinguished:
- daily digest via e-mail. This gives the subscriber a brief daily summary of newsworthy events, usually with links to more detailed stories.
- breaking news events by e-mail. This lets you receive instant details of new stories, more or less as they break
- online news ticker permanently visible on the computer monitor. This scrolls news headlines continuously across the bottom of the screen and is updated with new stories as they happen. It often provides hotlinks to more detailed coverage.
All three have their own advantages and disadvantages. The daily digest is non-intrusive and allows you to follow up such stories as you choose, but you only receive updates once a day. The breaking events coverage lets you know as soon as something happens, but you have to check your email to see it. The online news ticker lets you know about new stories instantly, but some people find it an annoyance having it on the screen all the time.
Some e-mail delivery services allow the use of filters, which give an element of choice of news topics delivered. If you are setting up a news delivery service for a client, it is vital that you use this filtering in order to tailor the service to the client's needs.
Let's look now at Daily digests ...
