Transcript Document 7654094

Dynamic Content
tickers, headlines & external news links
“Subscribing [to] news articles has been a
very popular way of getting news. For
many users, it is both time and cost
efficient to subscribe [to] news and read
materials via hyperlinks on [web] pages.”
-Wang,Yu, Li and Li
“According to the BBC, one blog is created
every second these days, reaching more
than 14.2 million blogs.”
-Jun and Ahamad
Big questions for Information Architects

How to provide news content tailored to
the user’s personal needs and interests

How to present that content
What one “recent” study shows
Users want more information about their
news stories
Background information
What others think
Related news
Users want multimedia content built into
the user interface design
What does “dynamic” mean?

Web pages that provide an interactive
experience

Responds to different contexts or
conditions set by the user
How are dynamic web pages created?

Client-side scripting
◦ JavaScript
◦ Action Script

Server-side scripting
◦ PHP
◦ Perl
◦ ASP
That said… back to news feeds
News feeds generally rely on XML
XML is eXtensible Mark up Language. It’s
different from HTML in that it’s selfdescribing. That is, HTML tells the browser
how the page should look. XML gives the
page meaning.
Feeds are XML code that allow a web site (or
browser) to talk to an aggregator or feed
reader
News Feeds
RSS: Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site
Summary, or RDF Site Summary
Atom: an XML-based Web content and
metadata syndication format
RSS: Really Simple Syndication
RSS is a family of Web feed formats used
to publish frequently updated content
such as blog entries, news headlines or
podcasts. An RSS document, which is
called a "feed," "web feed," or "channel,"
contains either a summary of content
from an associated web site or the full
text.
--Wikipedia.org
Atom

The name Atom applies to a pair of
related standards. The Atom Syndication
Format is an XML language used for web
feeds, while the Atom Publishing Protocol
(referred to as 'AtomPub' for short) is a
simple HTTP-based protocol for creating
and updating Web resources.
--Wikipedia.org
RSS vs. Atom
RSS
Version 2.0
Harvard
Frozen
Future work
encouraged
Basis for Atom
Atom
Version 1.0
AtomPub Working
Group
IETF
Structured for further
modification
Sometimes no
aggregator is
required
What the code looks like
<xml version="1.0">
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntaxns#" xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/">
<channel>
<title>Title of the Web site </title>
<link>URL of the homepage for the RSS feed</link>
<description>Short description of the Web site </description>
</channel>
<item>
<title>Enter your title for the specific story or article here</title>
<link>Enter the URL for the specific page of the story or article
here </link>
<description>Enter a short description of your story or article
here </description>
</item>
</rdf:RDF>
Before aggregation
Ways to aggregate feeds

Stand-alone
◦ Feedreader

Web-based***
◦ Google Reader
◦ Bloglines

Browser-based
◦ Firefox

Email Client-based
◦ Thunderbird (Mozilla)
Stand-alone: Feedreader3
Web-based: Google reader
Integrating multimedia content
Integrating multimedia content
Customization
Share items
Web-based: Bloglines
Browser-based feed:
Bookmarks >
Organize
Bookmarks >
File >
New Live
Bookmark
Email client-based feed
Tickers
What’s the significance?

Reduces information overload by filtering content

RSS Feeds provide access to the deep web
◦ Search engines only touch 6% of the Internet

Allows for personalized design

XML behind RSS = “an emergent semantic standard”

Access to blogs that search engines can’t reach
Feeds put to good use
Ten RSS Hacks
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/10/ten_rss_hacks.html
Tracking RSS Beyond Headlines
http://www.basement.org/archives/2006/01/taking_rss_beyond_headlines_
pa.html
Downloads and add ons
RSS Ticker :: Firefox Add Ons
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2325
Sage :: Firefox Add Ons
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/77
BBC News Ticker
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3223354.stm
CNN Desktop news
http://edition.cnn.com/services/desktopnews/
References
i312 Information in Cyberspace
cyberspace.ischool.utexas.edu
“nReader: Reading News Quickly, Deeply
and Vividly” by Wang,Yu, Li, and Li
“FeedEx: Collaborative Exchange of News
Feeds” by Jun and Ahamed
Any questions?