mark dubois illinois central college [email protected] information trapping
TRANSCRIPT
Your backgroundWhy are you here?
What do you hope to gain from this presentation?
What do you know about?RSS feeds (live bookmarks)Micro-formatse-MailTagging and social bookmarks
Source of a lot of this informationInformation trapping book
Information Trapping: Real-Time Research on the Web. Tara Calishain. (2006) ISBN: 0321491718
Why trapping?Suppose you need to keep up to date with a
given technologyYou could
Subscribe to various specialty magazines and e-news letters
Use search engines to methodically obtain informationSearching is so 1990’s
Much of the information available on the WWW today differs what was there yesterday
Why not set up RSS feeds and other traps Once these are established, you review the results
periodically
Huh? Consider the process (contrast with a search)
1. Examine your subject and carefully develop search queries
2. Evaluate places to search3. Establish your queries4. Receive and periodically evaluate the results
The initial process is more time consuming It is not as easy to tweak the traps as it is to
modify a search query However, once you have the traps set, you can
collect results for months or years
Simple Example
Initial questionsWhat is the topic you are interested in?What are the likely sources of information on this
topic?This likely includes questions such as what and
where (in the event a geographic locality is involved or you wish to focus your results on particular institutions or individuals)
How frequently do you wish to receive results?How do you want to receive the results?
Do you prefer e-mail, RSS feeds or what?
RSS fundamentalsWikiPedia definition (slightly modified)
“Family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, or podcasts.”
“An RSS document, which is called a ‘feed,’‘web feed,’ or ‘channel,’ contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually.”
Consider current versions of Firefox – subscribe to this page (instead of bookmark this page)
RSS fundamentals
Firefox addonsWizz RSS -
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/424
Purpose to read and manageRSS feeds
Useful for small numberof feedsPerhaps only critical ones
Public and PrivateNeed Wizz account for latterLimited security
Firefox addonsSage -
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/77 No need for an accountLinked to Technorati
(see what others link tofor items of interest)
A lightweight alternative(like Wizz)
Web based RSS readershttp://www.bloglines.com/
Lots of options
http://www.newsburst.com/ Part of CNETCan use OPML (Outline Process Markup Language) –
XML based file to allow importing/ exporting of RSS feeds
http://www.google.com.readerPublic page if you want to share
http://www.feedbucket.com/http://reader.rocketinfo.com/desktop/
Client side RSS readershttp://www.jwizz.com/ - may recall Wizz
Java based version for desktophttp://www.superwaba.com.br/en/default.asp
Mobile device RSS reader (based on Wizz)http://www.sharpreader.net/
Requires .Net platformThere are many others, but a fair number cost
NetNewsWire (for Mac) $29.95NewzCrawler (for Windows) $24.95
Ok, now I have the software…So what?
First need to identify possible sources of information (next slide)
Need to understand the technology so you can use it effectivelySome sites updated frequently, others, not very
oftenBefore you try to set up traps to monitor sites, I
recommend you understand the capabilities of the technology and the nuances of the sites you plan to monitor
Sources of feedshttp://www.newsgator.com/ http://feedster.com/ http://www.syndic8.com/ http://newsisfree.com/ http://technorati.com/blogs (for weblogs)http://2rss.com/ http://www.rss-network.com/
Types of feedsStaticKeyword based
RSS fundamentals
What does RSS look like? <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet href="http://rss.cnn.com/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl" type="text/xsl" media="screen"?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://rss.cnn.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css" type="text/css" media="screen"?><rss xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0"> <channel> <title>CNN.com</title> <link>http://www.cnn.com/?eref=rss_topstories</link> <description>CNN.com delivers up-to-the-minute news and information on the latest top stories, weather, entertainment, politics and more.</description> <language>en-us</language> <copyright>© 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.</copyright> <pubDate>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 12:22:34 EST</pubDate> <ttl>5</ttl> <image> <title>CNN.com</title> <link>http://www.cnn.com/?eref=rss_topstories</link> <url>http://i.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.0/logo/cnn.logo.rss.gif</url>
Page MonitorsIsn’t RSS enough?
Sometimes the content is not available via RSSSometimes you only need a little information
What is a page monitor?Automated tool that takes a “snapshot of a web
page”Returns later and takes anotherCompares the two and reports on differences
Can have false positives (perhaps someone changed the spelling)
Web based or client side tools
Page Monitors (2)Web based
http://watchthatpage.com/Free, must registerHas been reported on some blacklists
http://trackengine.com/Free (for up to 5 sources)
http://changedetect.com/Free (up to 5 sources)
http://www.changedetection.com/monitor.htmlSomewhat limited options (no frequency of monitoring)
http://www.pagehammer.com/Free as well
Page Monitors (3)Desktop
http://aignes.com/ (Website-Watcher)Free trial (relatively inexpensive)
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/tracker/$50 (free 30 day trial)
http://www.safe-install.com/programs/internet-owl.html (Internet Owl)Free
Machttp://chaoticsoftware.com/ProductPages/WebWatc
her.html (Web Watcher)$20 shareware
e-Mail alertsWhy?
May want to monitor entire sites (not just selected pages with a page monitor)
Most don’t have as many false positives as page monitors
May want to have content sent to places other than your computer (perhaps a cell phone)
There are quite a few of theseSearch for entomology ("email alerts" OR "e-
mail alerts") gave me 257,000 possibilities
e-Mail alerts siteshttp://www.google.com/alerts is one
http://alerts.yahoo.com is another
http://googlealert.com/ (not affiliated with Google – this site came before Google alerts)
MicroformatsThese are small islands of HTML data
Yes, HTML is a data type these days, just like XML, SQL databases and so forth
As long as everyone agrees on underlying format/ namesCan actually use these to interchange data
MicroformatsSolve a specific problemHave a low barrier to entryDesign for humans first, machines secondReuse building blocks from existing standardsAre modular and can be embedded in web pagesEncourage decentralized content and services
Types of microformatsHcard – for marking up contact information for people
and organizationsHcalendar – for marking up event information for
meetings and conferencesHreview – for marking up reviews including products
and eventsExample sites
http://corkd.com/ - wine reviews (hreview), contact (hcard)
http://flickr.com/ - profiles (hcard)http://www.last.fm/ - concerts (hcalendar)http://upcoming.yahoo.com/ - events (hcalendar),
profiles (hcard)
MicroformatsDesire to re-use bits of HTML
http://microformats.org/ (good reference site)Operator (Firefox add-on) -
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4106
Dreamweaver microformats extensionhttp://www.webstandards.org/action/dwtf/microform
ats/
Consider a few exampleshCard (for people and organizations)http://microformats.org/code/hcard/creator
hCard creator
Microformats.org with OperatorScreen capture below
hCard Example<div id="hcard-Mark-DuBois" class="vcard"> <a class="url fn"
href="http://www.markdubois.info">Mark DuBois</a> <div class="org">WOW</div> <div class="adr"> <div class="street-address">1 College Drive</div> <span class="locality">East Peoria</span>, <span class="region">IL</span>, <span class="postal-code">61635</span> <span class="country-name">USA</span> </div></div>
hCalendarhttp://microformats.org/code/hcalendar/creator Compact Code example
<div class="vevent" id="hcalendar-WOW-Meeting"> <abbr class="dtstart" title="20071101">November 1st</abbr> — <abbr class="dtend" title="20071103">2nd, 2007</abbr> <span class="summary">WOW Meeting</span>— at <span class="location">Las Vegas</span> <div class="description">Review established curriculum model and current technology trends as they affect web curricula</div> </div>
QueriesYes, we also will need to use search engines
We need to verify we have the desired sites (and have not overlooked something)
How should I actually create queries to obtain needed information?Many just plug a couple of words into the text input box
ConsiderUsing unique language – instead of ants (which turns up
Java related terms in addition to insects), I might look for Formicidae
Use more words (I believe Google has a limit of 32 words)How many have ever approached that limit?Try to be as narrow as possible
SearchingBasic syntax
Caterpillar –tractor (using the minus sign in front of a word to exclude those sites from the results)
JavaScript tutorials examples – since I did not specify, most search engines today assume a Boolean AND is between each word
Sidebar - http://www.googlewhack.com/ Special searching syntax
Intitle:keyword (for Google and Yahoo) – word must be in title
InURL:keyword (for Google and Yahoo) – word must be in URL
Site:domain (.edu, .com, etc.) – might help if looking for academic information
Tags and conversationsTags – keyword someone uses to describe a resource
in a directoryPeople often build a folksonomy (or collaborative
tagging)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy
These are not full descriptions, only a few wordsConversations – discussions on mailing lists or forums
There are specialty search engines which index conversationshttp://www.omgili.com/ is an example
Why treat these differently? Language
Searching within tagsPotentially working with huge datasets
Consider that by 2010 Gartner Group estimates there will be 1 zettabyte of information generated annually2 to the 70th power10 to the 21st power“Grains of sand”
A lot of this information is in the form of audio, images, and video
This is why tagging has become so popular – helpful to find
What do we look for?
Searching within tags (2)Tags are only a couple of wordsConsider that you can look for different levels of
informationInsectsAntsLabor Day antsLasius neoniger
Last one might be appropriate for website search but is probably too specific for tag search
Try to stay simple and general
Searching within conversationsCreate queries that reflect how you would discuss
a topicIf you are interested in professional
conversations, use their vocabularyMany of the conversation search sites have
advanced search optionsUse themExample on next slide
Advanced search - conversations
Tagging information Might want to use some existing sites as well
http://del.icio.us/ (doesn’t look or act like a search engine)Yes, there is a search box, but also tryhttp://del.icio.us/tag/keyword1+keyword2
http://www.spurl.net/http://www.blinklist.com/http://rawsugar.com/http://technorati.com/tag
Filtering the inputYou may have set a number of traps
RSS feeds can be organized in the software itselfeMail tends to accumulate and may hinder your
best efforts to control itOne alternative is Gmail
Lot of storage space (4.5 GB at this time)Good filtering abilityExcellent anti-spam capabilitiesGreat searching capabilities
Can also create multiple [email protected] – send me a message
sometime
Gmail example (2)Setting the filter
Gmail example (3)Setting the filter – part 2
Gmail example (4)Searching
Show search optionsNote that when you select a label, you are doing a
search in your inbox
Organizing the informationConsider starting with simple text editor
I use Notepad++http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
Multiple sources of informationIf you use a tool like MS-Word, you get all sorts of
formatting (yes, you can deactivate it, but it can be a pain)
Could also use Wiki (portable one is TiddlyWiki)http://www.tiddlywiki.com/That is what I will provide all these links withCan download from
http://www.markdubois.info/IBEA/
Some of the items we coveredRSSWeb page monitorseMail alertsMicroformatsQueriesSearchingTagsConversationsFiltering the resultsOrganizing the results
ReferencesInformation trapping book
Information Trapping: Real-Time Research on the Web. Tara Calishain. (2006) ISBN: 0321491718
Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0 John Allsopp (2007) ISBN 1590598148
