Transcript Web 2.0: The Potential Of RSS and Location Based Services

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/edinburgh-2006-09/
Web 2.0: The Potential Of RSS
And Location Based Services
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
Email
[email protected]
Aims:
• Build on recent Scottish-webpeople and JISC meetings
• Explore options for enhancing
use of RSS
• Advice to JISC & JISC Services
• Discuss institutional perspective
• Start discussions on simple
location-based services
Resources bookmarked using 'edinburgh-2006-09' tag
UKOLN is supported by:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
This work is licensed under a AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
(but note caveat) www.ukoln.ac.uk
Contents
This brief talk (14 slides) will cover:
RSS:
• News feeds
 Syndication
• Navigation
 Maximising impact
Location-Based Services
• Google Maps mashups
• Location-based metadata (and microformats)
Deployment Challenges
• Should we do it?
General
• What are the barriers?
discussion
• Where to from here?
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
RSS
RSS
RSS:
• Killer lightweight format
• Initially used to allow news to be
embedded in others Web sites
• Now used for general syndication of
content
• Use in Blogs helped in take-up
• Lots of ways of using RSS, creating RSS,
RSS tools, etc.
See An Introduction To RSS And News Feeds
QA Focus briefing document no. 78
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
RSS
JISC Services RSS Aggregator
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/jiscnews/
JISC Services RSS
Aggregator:
• Example of a Webbased RSS reader
• Feeds determined
by service provider
Desktop alerting
RSS tool (Google
Desktop)
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
RSS
RSS As A Navigational Aid
http://www.cultivate-int.org/
RSS feeds for
structure of
Cultivate Interactive
created recently
RSS file for home
page (and similar)
provides links to
each issue
RSS file for an issue
provides table of
contents for issue
RSS files created in Aug 2006, using
RSSxl
later)
A
centre of (see
expertise
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RSS
RSS & OPML As A
Navigational Aid
OPML provides an
import/export
function for groups
of RSS files
Can also be used
for navigation
Mashups – take the information to the
people, don’t force them to come to you
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But I can provide such
navigation using my
CMS?
Yes, but remember that
the interface can be
embedded on 3rd party
Web sites – which your
CMS doesn’t manage
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RSS
Searching RSS Space
http://www.technorati.com/search/edina
http://www.technorati.com/search/jisc
Technorati
provides a
searching service
for Blog
space/RSS space
Thoughts – if you
want to be visible
in Technorati,
you’ll need to
create RSS – or
encourage others
to Blog about you
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RSS
Creating The RSS
http://www.wotzwot.com/
Lot’s of ways, but a
simple technique for
existing resources is
to make use of an
HTML-RSS converter.
Can process:
• ‘Microformats’ e.g.
<span class=
“rss:item”>
• Arbitrary text such
as <li>
No need for a complex CMS!
Some trivial edits allowed the feeds to be tidied up. File saved as
static file with persistent URI. Approach v. useful for legacy data
(old projects).
willin be
even
better
in IE 7 / FF 2 world.www.ukoln.ac.uk
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expertise
digital
information
management
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Location Services
Mapping Services & The Web
Web 2.0 provides valuable opportunity to
provide mapping & location services:
• Embedding Google maps on your Web
sites
• Developing rich services using this
• Providing location metadata /
microformats which can be processed by
simple browser tools
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Location Services
Google Maps Mashups
http://northumbria.ac.uk/browse/radius5/
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/
workshops/webmaster-2006/maps/
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Google Map ‘mashup’
used for IWMW 2006
event:
• ~ 20 lines of
JavaScript.
• Code taken from
Google Maps Web
site and
coordinates added
More sophisticated
mapping applications
are being developed,
such as Radius 5 at
Northumbria
Univ.
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Location Services
Location Metadata (1)
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/
meetings/edinburgh-2006-09/
Embedded location
metadata can now by
exploited by various
3rd party tools
Note I shouldn’t do
this, the
organisation should
be responsible for
its own metadata
(I’ve probably got
the wrong building!)
How? Install Greasemap script & add:
<meta name="geo.position" content="55.944…, -3.187…" />
<meta name="geo.placename" content="Edinburgh University" />
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Location Services
Location Metadata (2)
Same location
metadata can be
used by other
applications.
http://geourl.org/near?p=http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
web-focus/events/meetings/edinburgh-2006-09/
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Note also Geo
microformats –
embed location
inline in HTML
text, which can be
exploited by
various www.ukoln.ac.uk
tools
What Next?
Challenges & Opportunities
Challenges:
• Accessibility (can be addressed)
• Resourcing
• Reliability, robustness, quality, trust, etc.
• Will users use it? Do they want it?
Opportunities:
• Significant benefits at low cost
• Being (slightly) at the leading edge
• Discussing & sharing best practices, coordination
• Software development (EDINA, UK, … scripts, etc)
• …
Key points: Much of this stuff can be easy to do, so let’s do it!
Remember the benefits of scale (Metcalfe’s Law) that we
(developers
&inour
users)
gain
as more of us do this.
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digital
information
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What Next?
Discussion
Opportunity for general discussion
Note resources cited in the talk are bookmarked in
del.icio.us using tag '‘edinburgh-2006-09"
Also note that briefing documents on various Web 2.0
issues (and other areas) are available on QA Focus
Web site
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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