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RSS - The Remix
Set up an experimental local news portal at SanAntonioNews.com, using some of the tools and services that help blend multiple RSS feeds into a new feed and convert the new RSS feed into a format for insertion on an HTML page.
For the alpha version of this test site I relied on third party services to help with the mashup and redistribution. The service used to remix multiple feeds into a single feed is feedblendr. With feedblendr was able to take the individual rss news feeds from local media outlets KSAT, WOAI, MySanAntonio.com and the San Antonio Business Journal and remix them into new business, sports, headlines and entertainment feeds that focus on the local market.
Now that the mashup was created, FeedRoll converted the newly remixed RSS feeds into a javascript file that allows them to be inserted in a simple HTML document.
For the next versions of the test site, am investigating open source code that will do the same processing but on our server. One of the more promising scripts appears to be RSS2HTML. This is both a hosted service like feedblendr and a script that you can load on your own server.
Found a good summary on the current state of the RSS remixer world at All RSS. If your focus is more on content aggregation than developing your own original content, tools like these that allow you to remix rss content into new custom feeds should bring a smile to your face.
Be sure and check out the publishers requirements for using their feeds before inserting on your site. From my understanding of reading the terms of use agreements for the feeds that this test site uses, and most other feeds as well, as long as there is no advertising in or near the feeds, you attribute the source of the feeds and maintain the click through to their original story, the feeds are free to use. This makes sense. After all, the content owners are putting their feeds out there to increase their audience. The RSS remix is another way to accomplish that.
Posted by davidc | February 1, 2006 05:03 AM | Permalink | Email This
