[campsite-dev] XML Feeds: Which Format to Use?
  • I'm starting to get to work on the 'campsite article import/export'
    feature, a.k.a. "XML feeds". This was the feature that was discussed in
    the Yahoo conference a couple weeks ago. This feature will allow you to
    specify feeds in the admin interface and then click a button to import
    the latest articles from that feed. You will also be able to upload
    articles in this way. The other half of this is enabling each campsite
    server to export articles in some sort of feed format.

    It hasnt been decided yet, however, what standard we are going to use
    for the feeds. Originally it was thought that RSS would be used, but
    RSS does not currently support syndication of the entire article
    content. (RSS 2.0 Spec: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss)

    The Atom specification DOES allow specification of the content: it has
    one format for syndication and content. Here is a link to the spec:
    http://atomenabled.org/developers/syndication/atom-format-spec.php

    "Atom makes it possible for developers to have a consistent,
    tightly-specified, well documented XML format for both syndication and
    authoring of content."

    Then there is also NewsML:
    http://www.newsml.org/IPTC/NewsML/1.2/specification/NewsML_1.2-spec-functionalspec_7.html

    But it seems like massive overkill, as seen here:
    http://www.newsml.org/IPTC/NewsML/1.2/specification/NewsML_1.2-spec-functionalspec_7.html#illni

    To me is seems like Atom is what we want. Any comments?

    - Paul

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  • 3 Comments sorted by
  • I've got a couple of comments...

    I think that if you're talking about putting syndication features into
    Campsite, you'll definitely need to offer RSS feeds, that's the lingua
    franca of syndication, I'd say. Everyone's got software to deal with RSS
    feeds to it's the best way to start. Doug has a program that he uses to
    load RSS feeds directly to his computer, for example. If you need to be
    able to feed entire stories Reuters-style to other sites, then those
    other standards apply I guess, but as you said, they're much more
    complex and general-purpose, allowing radio/tv/newspaper content to be
    bundled together, etc.

    I see that Atom has a HTTP-based edit/post/feed API, it looks to me that
    you can use it to *push* stories to a remote Atom server, as opposed to
    waiting for the remote server to pull them (every 15 minutes etc). That
    might be a consideration if you want to feed 'breaking news' to other
    sites. RSS is a way of publishing a list of stories that other sites can
    pick up when they wish, so it's not perfect for fast-breaking information.

    I think ideally you would want to supply RSS for your whole site or
    maybe for sections of your site for free (free publicity for your site,
    may attract new subscribers), then you might want to also provide XML
    versions of stories to publishers who pay for them (selling your stories
    news agency style). Some sites only offer RSS to registered users, or
    only to paid subscribers. That's an option too.

    You can of course use server-side XSLT to transform a raw XML format
    into various output formats, so probably choosing to code the XML output
    in one particular way doesn't preclude adding other formats later.

    JP

    Paul Baranowski wrote:

    > I'm starting to get to work on the 'campsite article import/export'
    > feature, a.k.a. "XML feeds". This was the feature that was discussed
    > in the Yahoo conference a couple weeks ago. This feature will allow
    > you to specify feeds in the admin interface and then click a button
    > to import the latest articles from that feed. You will also be able
    > to upload articles in this way. The other half of this is enabling
    > each campsite server to export articles in some sort of feed format.
    >
    > It hasnt been decided yet, however, what standard we are going to use
    > for the feeds. Originally it was thought that RSS would be used, but
    > RSS does not currently support syndication of the entire article
    > content. (RSS 2.0 Spec: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss)
    >
    > The Atom specification DOES allow specification of the content: it has
    > one format for syndication and content. Here is a link to the spec:
    > http://atomenabled.org/developers/syndication/atom-format-spec.php
    >
    > "Atom makes it possible for developers to have a consistent,
    > tightly-specified, well documented XML format for both syndication and
    > authoring of content."
    >
    > Then there is also NewsML:
    > http://www.newsml.org/IPTC/NewsML/1.2/specification/NewsML_1.2-spec-functionalspec_7.html
    >
    >
    > But it seems like massive overkill, as seen here:
    > http://www.newsml.org/IPTC/NewsML/1.2/specification/NewsML_1.2-spec-functionalspec_7.html#illni
    >
    >
    > To me is seems like Atom is what we want. Any comments?
    >
    > - Paul
    >
    >

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  • I've found out that I'm only working on article import right now, which
    means RSS wont cut it (though I have found out today that there is a
    "content module" for RSS 1.0 that has not been approved by the working
    group yet: http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/). For
    article export, I completely agree with you that RSS should be
    supported. Atom is the simplest spec that supports content inclusion as
    far as I know, so I'm going to start with that and get feedback from
    users to see where to go after that.

    I have another question about article import: do we want to import when
    someone clicks a button, or on a set schedule, or both?

    - Paul


    John Pye wrote:

    > I've got a couple of comments...
    >
    > I think that if you're talking about putting syndication features into
    > Campsite, you'll definitely need to offer RSS feeds, that's the lingua
    > franca of syndication, I'd say. Everyone's got software to deal with RSS
    > feeds to it's the best way to start. Doug has a program that he uses to
    > load RSS feeds directly to his computer, for example. If you need to be
    > able to feed entire stories Reuters-style to other sites, then those
    > other standards apply I guess, but as you said, they're much more
    > complex and general-purpose, allowing radio/tv/newspaper content to be
    > bundled together, etc.
    >
    > I see that Atom has a HTTP-based edit/post/feed API, it looks to me that
    > you can use it to *push* stories to a remote Atom server, as opposed to
    > waiting for the remote server to pull them (every 15 minutes etc). That
    > might be a consideration if you want to feed 'breaking news' to other
    > sites. RSS is a way of publishing a list of stories that other sites can
    > pick up when they wish, so it's not perfect for fast-breaking information.
    >
    > I think ideally you would want to supply RSS for your whole site or
    > maybe for sections of your site for free (free publicity for your site,
    > may attract new subscribers), then you might want to also provide XML
    > versions of stories to publishers who pay for them (selling your stories
    > news agency style). Some sites only offer RSS to registered users, or
    > only to paid subscribers. That's an option too.
    >
    > You can of course use server-side XSLT to transform a raw XML format
    > into various output formats, so probably choosing to code the XML output
    > in one particular way doesn't preclude adding other formats later.
    >
    > JP
    >

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  • > I have another question about article import: do we want to import when
    > someone clicks a button, or on a set schedule, or both?
    I would say both.

    Mugur

    >
    > - Paul
    >
    >
    > John Pye wrote:
    >
    > > I've got a couple of comments...
    > >
    > > I think that if you're talking about putting syndication features into
    > > Campsite, you'll definitely need to offer RSS feeds, that's the lingua
    > > franca of syndication, I'd say. Everyone's got software to deal with RSS
    > > feeds to it's the best way to start. Doug has a program that he uses to
    > > load RSS feeds directly to his computer, for example. If you need to be
    > > able to feed entire stories Reuters-style to other sites, then those
    > > other standards apply I guess, but as you said, they're much more
    > > complex and general-purpose, allowing radio/tv/newspaper content to be
    > > bundled together, etc.
    > >
    > > I see that Atom has a HTTP-based edit/post/feed API, it looks to me that
    > > you can use it to *push* stories to a remote Atom server, as opposed to
    > > waiting for the remote server to pull them (every 15 minutes etc). That
    > > might be a consideration if you want to feed 'breaking news' to other
    > > sites. RSS is a way of publishing a list of stories that other sites can
    > > pick up when they wish, so it's not perfect for fast-breaking information.
    > >
    > > I think ideally you would want to supply RSS for your whole site or
    > > maybe for sections of your site for free (free publicity for your site,
    > > may attract new subscribers), then you might want to also provide XML
    > > versions of stories to publishers who pay for them (selling your stories
    > > news agency style). Some sites only offer RSS to registered users, or
    > > only to paid subscribers. That's an option too.
    > >
    > > You can of course use server-side XSLT to transform a raw XML format
    > > into various output formats, so probably choosing to code the XML output
    > > in one particular way doesn't preclude adding other formats later.
    > >
    > > JP
    > >
    >
    >
    >




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