vanderwal.net

RSS on PDAs and information reuse

Three times the past week I have run across folks mentioning Hand/RSS for Palm. This seems to fill the hole that AvantGo does not completely fill. Many of the information resources I find to be helpful/insightful have RSS feeds, but do not have a "mobile" version (more importantly the content is not made with standard (X)HTML validating markup with a malleable page layout that will work for desktop/laptop web browsers and smaller mobile screens).

I currently pull to scan then read content from 125 RSS feeds. Having these some of these feeds pulled and stored in my PDA would be a great help.

Another idea I have been playing with is to pull and convert RSS feeds for mobile browser access and use. This can be readily done with PHP. It seems that MobileRSS already does something like this.

Content, make that information in general, stored and presented in a format that is only usable in one device type or application is very short sighted. Information should be reusable to be more useful. Users copy and paste information into documents, todo lists, calendars, PDAs, e-mail, weblogs, text searchable data stores (databases, XML respositories, etc.), etc. Digital information from the early creation was about reusing the information. Putting text only in a graphic is foolish (AIGA websites need to learn this lesson) as is locking the information in a proprietary application or proprietary format.

The whole of the Personal Information Cloud, the rough cloud of information that the user has chosen to follow them so that it is available when they need that information is only usable if information is in an open format.

Blurbs: Writing previews of Web pages

A February 2001 article by Dennis Jerz discusses Blurbs: Writing Previews of Web Pages, which is very helpful information that helps annotate links to ease and assist the users understanding what is behind "door number 2". The blurbs help the user by providing more than the short snippet in a link. This makes the browsing structures much more friendly.

Ticketstubs launches

Tickstubs is launched by Matt. This site is a story repository based on ticket stubs. I have many ticket stubs that serve as reminders of past events, travels, and adventures. I am glad to see there are others that have the same interest and are sharing them. I look forward to following along.

White paper on taxonomy and classification

Michael points to and discusses a Delphi Group white paper on taxonomy and content classification. A quick perusal of this 58 page PDF is leading me think I will want to clear some time for this sucker.

Microcontent browser

Anil's Dashes Magazine discusses microcontent browsers, which is a great idea that is on the cusp of being here. Anil outlines what is needed and where it will all end up, hopefully.

Content Inventory from a master

Jeffery Veen provides doing a content inventory (or a mind-numbingly detailed odessey through your Web site) over at Adaptive Path. The article comes with an Excel template to get you started. Keep in mind this is a painful task, but one that will reap incredible rewards.

The story of food in a few scentances from Trader Joes

I know I am slow to catch things, but I just noticed the great stories that describe poducts in the Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer are quite similar J Peterman approach. The product descriptions form small stories that add character to the product. The J Peterman catalog was wonderful in their approach to selling their counterfeit mailbag, Key West hat, and other products. The Key West hat is a long billed baseball hat that through the story this odd hat gained an aura of Hemmingway and a mystique. Trader Joes does a similar thing with their food and health products. It is a wonderful touch to quality foods they offer.