Welcome to the River4 Resources Page! This page contains links to videos and information on setting up and using the River4 feed reader by Dave Winer.
What is a “river of news” feed reader?
Dave Winer describes it as a display of items in reverse-chronological order. If you use Twitter or Facebook, this is the same way that tweets or news are presented.
What are the benefits of using a feed reader?
- You decide the sources for your news and information
- See the most recent news first
- Organize your sources in different groups (or rivers)
- Create rivers for any information source that has a feed
- Blogs
- News sites
- Music
- Videos
- Bargains
- Auction items
- Search results
- ….
Why should you use the River4 feed reader?
- River4 is open source – free!
- You can use it locally on your PC or Mac
- You can run it as a web service
- You can make your rivers accessible to anyone on a web site or subdomain of a website
Where are some examples of rivers being published on the Web?
Here are several to show what you can do with River4:
- Full Blast News
- TechBlast
- PodCatch
- MLB River
- DukeRiver
- Dave Winer’s Rivers
- Basic river website from a River4 installation
How can I get started with River4
- Do-it-yourself
Use my free seven-video course on how to set up the River4 feed reader on a local PC, how to setup River4 to run on a hosted service and how to interact with the River4 feed reader on a hosted service.
- Lesson 1 – River4 Windows Setup
- Lesson 2 – Adding Feeds to River4
- Lesson 3 – Exploring the River4 Console App
- Lesson 4 – River4/Amazon S3/Heroku Setup
- Lesson 5 – Keeping River4 Running on Heroku
- Lesson 6 – Using Fargo to Create OPML Files for River 4
- Lesson 7 – Using River4 Console App with Heroku
- Bonus Lesson – River4 Mac Setup (by Dave Winer)
If you like following a written list of instructions, the River4 blog has instructions for setting up River4 on a Mac, setting up for a PC is similar.
More resources:
2. Get some help
If you would like to have River4 set up for you on a hosted service, contact me! For just $50 if you have your own domain name ($70 if you need a domain name), you’ll get the following:
- Complete setup with no work on your part
- All account information
- User instructions to help you make the most of River4!
Contact me at andy@andysylvester.com if you are interested!
Wrapup
What are you waiting for? Get started with River4 today!
Questions: Contact me at andy@andysylvester.com
Webmentions
I have been in several conversations in the last week (voice and email) where the concept of “working together” in software development came up, and several threads emerged:
how the original developer doesn’t/shouldn’t have to do everything – others can contribute (to me, a key concept in open source)
how interested/engaged users can be an important force in the direction in which a software application or tool goes forward
Dave Winer has written about this many times:
The magic of working together
Key concept of the open web: working together
Working together (SOTN 2018)
Working together in 2019
I have tried to follow that second point in several ways:
My blog uses WordPress, I did not develop my own blogging tool
I use River5 as my RSS reader engine
I use RiverBrowser to display my own rivers of news
I document and evangelize how to create your own rivers of news
I document how to use tools like River4 and 1999.io
I help others set up these tools
I am getting ready to start working in the computer music area again after a long absence, and I am reviewing available tools to see if they fit the areas I am interested in. In that way, I am trying to practice the concepts of working together as I have outlined above.
Anyone want to work together with me? Let me know!
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