Tim Bray, one of the architects of XML, says that the advent of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology has changed the way he tracks information. "RSS… is a syndication format. It's a simple XML tag to describe what's changed about a Web site recently. Doesn't sound like much, except that there are programs called aggregators that poll Web sites and read the RSS every so often. For example, I don't go to the New York Times' Web site anymore because I read the paper's RSS feed and I've got a little application that I check back with every so often that tells me when there is new stuff. I don't even really use the notion of the home page anymore because I'm notified when something new pops up on the sites that I like to read, enabling me to keep track of an immensely wider range of information. Anyone in the business of publishing info to an audience should think about implementing an RSS feed by this time next week. It's useful and falling-off-a-log easy."
posted by Marcus Zillman |
11:58 AM
