ticTOCs is a JISC-funded project. It has developed a service to enable users to discover, subscribe to, and re-use Table of Contents (TOC) RSS feeds for thousands of journals from a wide range of publishers. The initial phase of the project included analysis of publishers current practices with regard to the provision of RSS TOCs. The analysis revealed a range of issues which may impact on the ability of end users and feed aggregators to effectively utilize feeds. Just because a particular publisher’s feed "looks good" in the major feed readers isn't enough to make said feed truly usable. RSS feeds are designed to be aggregated. When aggregated, even minor variations in feeds can be greatly distracting and make for an unpleasant user experience. For instance, there is currently wide variation amongst scholarly publishers in the use of the element. This has been added to the tools section of Research Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog.
posted by Marcus Zillman |
4:05 AM
