I have to say this is a tool I never been attracted too. However this has been few times mentioned during the lesson, so I decided to look at it.

What is it?

RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers collecting their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

Why?

Personally, so far I do not see the need, except of course for news….of any kind, but now I like the idea of creating my own little widget implementing an RSS, of what I regularly check.

RSS was implemented to help people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. Supposing to help you saving time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site’s email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly.

Tools to look at:

Dapper is a very handy tool to create your own RSS on your website or even create widgets, Facebook applications, using I believe API..

http://www.dapper.net/

Mash UP

Automatically after RSS feed, I am looking at Mashup. In a way very similar concept, collecting data through the Internet. This consist of a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool; an example is the use of picture collected from Flicker’s creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.

I came across something I really liked made of flicker’s pictures.

The Tag Galaxy

Tag Galaxy is a very nice and smooth application that uses Papervision3D to explore Flickr’s photos, using virtual planetary systems. The concept is not impressive, however the visual is splendid.
Created by Steven Wood as a diploma thesis project

http://www.taggalaxy.de/

Some interesting and very creative Mashup work can be found on this website

http://mashupawards.com/tag-galaxy/

Human Browser

By Christophe Bruno

The person shown is not what we could call coucou, but he is an actor playing the first human browser. This piece is a Google hack; the creator Christophe Bruno, is searching Google from his laptop and sends a text-to-speech audio of the result to an actor, who then repeats what he’s getting via the headphones. The actor is standing in the middle of the street in front of an amazed crowd. This performance is great, full of humour and makes a very unusual mashup.

http://www.iterature.com/human-browser/en/