Free Trial .gov

Many government Web sites use news feed technology to promote their activities, distribute news and meet customer demand for really useful electronic services. Metacentric provides a free trial of the Web Feed Generator service for government Web sites as a proof of concept, and this page explains how it works.

How do they do that?

Metacentric conducted research with British government Web teams that already publish RSS news feeds.

These public service pioneers simply had the technical capacity and autonomy to do the job themselves.

They saw it as a quick win, and far easier to show how news feeds work than explain to senior managers.

With pilot news feeds online, key decision-makers could try the technology and discover the benefits for themselves.

Government pilot scheme

We know that there are many more government Web managers who appreciate the benefits of RSS news feeds and want to try the Web Feed Generator service to start the ball rolling. Our Free Trial .gov package is designed to do just that, and is open to all government Web sites, local and national, in Britain and abroad.

Why do they do that?

The government Web teams we spoke to had many good reasons for setting up their news feeds, beyond the standard news feed benefits:

• Encourage more inbound links
• Promote Web site traffic
• Generate news media coverage
• Feed public interest in planning applications
• Publish committee meeting news
• Help councillors keep up with developments
• Address customer focus and accessibility requirements

News feeds gained greater acceptance and enthusiasm amongst staff too.

Register for service

The Web Feed Generator is currently closed to new customers, but we will let you know when the sign-up service re-opens.

• Be notified when the service re-opens: ask customer support.

Pilot scheme details

The Free Trial .gov package is intended to be a proof of concept for government news feeds. We want to help you make the case for an upgrade to the standard Web Feed Generator service.

• Free 30 day trial
  Use the Web Feed Generator service free of charge; no billing, no hidden costs, no unexpected invoices.
• No obligations
  You can abandon the trial account at any time. It will shut down after 30 days unless you switch to a standard Web Feed Generator account.
• Full support
  We will provide any help and guidance you may need to set up news feeds free of charge.

Web Feed Generator services

Government trial accounts include all standard feed services.

• News Feed: RSS 1.0 format news feeds with Dublin Core metadata
• RDF Metadata: Extracts Dublin Core metadata from Web pages
• Simple Syndication: Include news feeds in other Web pages

Register for service

The Web Feed Generator is currently closed to new customers, but we will let you know when the sign-up service re-opens.

• Be notified when the service re-opens: ask customer support.

Any .gov domain

The Free Trial .gov package can be used with any site that has .gov in its domain name. We welcome trial accounts from all English language government Web sites, including:

• Australia: .gov.au
• Canada: .gov.ca
• Ireland: .gov.ie
• New Zealand: .gov.nz
• United Kingdom: .gov.uk
• United States of America: .gov

Register for service

The Web Feed Generator is currently closed to new customers, but we will let you know when the sign-up service re-opens.

• Be notified when the service re-opens: ask customer support.