Having had a little more time to absorb how Danny Ayers setup a self-updating Reading List using del.icio.us, I was reminded of a post I read somewhere (I wish I could find it again) about how del.icio.us could surely use a tag weighting algorithm to generate OPML hierarchies on-the-fly.
To imagine a dynamic OPML hierarchy think of a timelapse video of a beautiful oak tree. Now I mean a lonnnnnnnng term timelapse - many decades. Picture how new branches (nodes) are forking out from the older growth as the tree thickens out at all levels. See how many arms and twigs just break off (due to storm and animal damage). The tree is a restless organic entity with a constantly changing fractal structure.
You might think of new RSS feed items as the acorns at the extremities of the tree, popping in and out of view like strobe lights flashing as the timelapse runs through the decades. Now picture a little squirrel on the ground looking up, eying those acorns with envy. He is of course a Feed Grazer. Starting out at the root he makes his way along multiple levels in the hierarchy, from sub-node to sub-node until he reaches the acorn (latest feed item). He plucks (grazes) it and then scuttles back down the tree (up the hierarchy) until he comes to another interesting looking fork. Then back towards the extremity to fetch another acorn. And so on, and so on.
That, in a... ahem... nutshell is Feed Grazing. But it won't see its potential realized until we can 'grow' evanescent, biotic OPML hierarchies. Del.icio.us could grow them. But how? To be continued...
PS. While studiously researching this article I came across this hilarious piece about squirrel behaviour -
I am also studying how squirrels decide where to bury their acorns. They appear concerned about other squirrels stealing their acorns and tend to take their acorns away from the trees, where other squirrels in the trees might see where they cache the acorns. They also exhibit a remarkable behaviour of "fake burials" or "deceptive caching". A squirrel will go through all the motions of burying an acorn-digging a hole, shoving the acorn into the hole, scooping the earth back, patting the earth down, even combing the grass up over the spot, and then running off-all the while keeping the acorn in it's mouth. I had been watching squirrels for many years before I realized I was being fooled! It was quite a surprise. I suspect it is not the last surprise to be found in studying squirrels.
Hmmm, deceptive caching - there's got to be a meme in there somewhere ;-)
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