Topic 8 Exercise 4

Aggregation, syndication and the social engine.

1. What is RSS
Really Simple Syndication/Rich Site Summary- format used to publish work that is updated often ie blogs. Sometimes referred to as a ‘web feed’ it contains the compacted data and publishing dates allowing for easier syndication.

2. Explain aggregation and syndication and how they have changed the nature of the web.Aggregation is the process where data is collected and similar data is grouped together, this process is completed by using algorithms doing contextual analysis on the data, and some are completed automatically (Google News) others manually (Huffington Post).

Syndication is where the information on a website is made available to other sites; it provides users with a summary of the website's recently added content.

Aggregation and syndication have changed the nature of the web by allowing the for the searching of data to be easier by grouping or connection like data and by dating the information to ensure that the users are always presented with the latest edition on an entry.

3. ‘Swarm’ and ‘stack’ at dig.com, explain.Digg is a website that allows its users to submit stories and links of interest, with other users voting and commenting on them. A swarm happens when a story is submitted and its popularity is rated, it can run for a couple of hours. A stack shows the story’s activity over a period of time.

B.1 Delicious uses a non-hierarchical classification system in which users can tag each of their bookmarks. A combined view of everyone's bookmarks with a given tag is available;
Its collective nature makes it possible to view bookmarks added by similar-minded users.
Use of Delicious is free.
All bookmarks posted to Delicious are publicly viewable by default, although users can mark specific bookmarks as private, and imported bookmarks are private by default. The public aspect is emphasized; the site is not focused on storing private ("not shared") bookmark collections.

C2. Go2Web20.net claims;

 The biggest web2.0 directory.
 It was built to enable people to stay up to date with all the new & hot services that are born daily into the web.
 Services that are no longer working are disabled.
 The first to report the existence of most new applications.

How do you see services such as these as changing the way in which you and your future workgroups operate?
The services provided by Go2Web20 will greatly enhance the usability of the web. It provides a description of new applications, saving the user time as they can get all the information that they require in order to make a decision about which application will best suit their needs at the time. This site will prove to be very handy in the future, I was unaware that it existed and am quiet pleased to have had it pointed out.

D1. Elgg

Elgg,
 started in 2004,
 is an open source social engine which powers a range of social environments - from education to business and sports such as rugby.
 looking to create own social application or want to build and run a site for your organisation, Elgg is a great choice as it provides the building blocks needed.
http://elgg.org/about.php