[Web4lib] Use of varying feed/alert protocols

[Leslie Johnston]

All,

We're starting our exploration of setting up a new content alert 
service for our Digital Library Repository.  The question isn't 
whether to do so, but using which protocol(s)?

The history of the development is interesting.  Check out the 
"History' and "Incompatibilities" sections of the wikipedia page 
dealing with the different:

         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss and 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_%28standard%29

We'll be generating our feed content in a home-grown programmatic way 
from already existing metadata in XML form, using XSLT.  We're not 
looking for tools, nor are we constrained by any.

I came across this interesting page showing a rough distribution of 
RSS versus Atom:

         http://www.syndic8.com/stats.php?Section=feeds#FeedLang

Trying to get a handle on what various aggregator tools support is 
challenging, because of the sheer number of tools:

         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aggregators

So, a little informal research seems in order.  I'd like to hear from 
those of you who provide feeds/alerts -- do you provide RSS (which 
version[s]), Atom, or both?

Thanks in advance,
Leslie

------------
Leslie Johnston
Head, Digital Access Services
University of Virginia Library
http://lib.virginia.edu/digital/
http://lib.virginia.edu/digital/das/
johnston at virginia.edu