EirePreneur

OPML autodiscovery

Daniel Larson says - "We have a nice autodiscovery tag that's standard for RSS-- how about a standard OPML autodiscovery tag?"

So just as we now see the standard orange feed icon in the Firefox address bar when we visit a webpage (eg. blog) with a feed can we expect to see the blue OPML icon show up beside it if there are also OPML urls on the page, in some future version of the Mozilla browser? Now that would be very handy for use with services like Zimbio which produce customizable OPML for topic portals based on user preferences. Just click on the icon and add the complete hierarchy to your feed grazer or next generation aggregator, eg. like the grazr* panel below for a customized view on the Entrepreneurship portal on Zimbio -

Meta-blogrolling

Todd Wiley considers replacing his blogroll with a Grazr panel. Hey Todd I've already done that and I've now slotted your OPML file into mine. Or to use the jargon I've 'included' it. But I prefer to say that I've added your node as a Grazer Blade. A collection of blades is like a meta-blogroll ;-)

[Via Lisa Williams]

Who knew OPML could be so much fun!

Adam Green, who moderated the technology roundtable at Web2Ireland is the organizer of OPML Camp in Boston which is only two weeks away from kick-off. With the phenomenal buzz surrounding the relaunch of Share Your OPML I think he'll be seeing a greater turnout than the predicted 60. Especially considering he's hosting holding a barbeque and pool party at his house -

We will be catering it with Tex-mex from Border Cafe one day and a Thai restaurant called Spice on the other. I’ve arranged for someone to pick up and deliver lunch and iced drinks during the day. I thought that a few tubs filled with water bottles, Diet Coke, and Snapple would do the trick. There will be a barbeque and pool party at my house on Saturday night. I’m looking into a van to transport people who will be attending without cars.

Darn, I wish I could have made it.

Speaking of OPML I wonder what Tom Morris is cooking up - an OPML normalization service perhaps? Hmmm....

Technorati Tags: opml camp, opml, boston, adam green

Who's going OPML Camping in RSS Alley?

Did you know that Boston has been labelled RSS Alley? That, and the fact that my sister had a wondeful time there a few weeks ago means I'm seriously hoping to attend OPML Camp in May.

OPML Camp is a free event based on the unconference format made popular by BloggerConBarCamp. Participants will discuss the current tools and applications for OPML, and construct wish lists for future features with the authors of many of the popular OPML products. There will be tutorials for those who are new to OPML, and advanced sessions on programming techniques for OPML in languages such as Python and PHP. As the use of OPML moves beyond a simple container for RSS feeds, it has begun to overlap with other methods of managing structured data on the Web, such as Microformats and the Semantic Web. Camp participants will explore extensions to the OPML standard that will allow the incorporation of features from these related Web technologies.

Sounds terrific and It would be a great opportunity to meet up with people like Adam Green, Anne Zelenka, Bela Labovitch, Brian Del Vecchio and Joshua Porter.

If time permits I'll be making the trip. Anyone else going along? You can register here.

Everybody's going grazy

Its not even my birthday but Robin Blandford has sent me a present -

Yes, CommentCasting is now OPML-ised..... The file is dynamically created to outline the current user directory ‘as is’…and yes when I look at the structure of OPML files, I can see the benefits of ‘outlining’.

Thanks Robin! James E. Lee also sees the benefits and points out how easy it is to use Grazr as a service without embedding it in a webpage. And Marshall Kirkpatrick put Grazr to a 'very specific and simple use' here -

I posted a Grazr box below the OPML URL so people could get a live preview of what they could subscribe to. I think there are lots of possiblities just within the OPML as bundled RSS feeds paradigm and I know there are people who find other ways to use the format even more exciting.

On the other hand Keith Bohanna hasn't yet grokked grazing but snapped up Podgrazer.com all the same. And it looks like Podgrazr.com (without the 'e') is also gone. Is the whole world going grazy?

FOAF is DOA?

Pieter Overbeeke, founder of OPML host OPMLmanager, thinks the Friend of a Friend (FOAF) project is dying a slow death but wonders if OPML could come to the rescue -

You could display your personal information in outlines and link to the foaf-opml files of your friends with opml-inclusions. Using an opml browser (i.e. grazr) you could easily browse from your own friends to your friends-friends to your friends-friends-friends etc. (you should stumble on yourself in 10 hops i think.

So I've added his OPML to my list of Grazer Blades in the sidebar. Let's see where this goes. If anybody wants to add mine here's the link :)

Firefox 3 to usher in a new paradigm for the web?

Rowan Nairn points to Gareth Stack of Technolotics who believes that OPML underlies the future of both the browser and the web.

Firefox 3, or its equivalent, won’t function primarily as a traditional link / url -> page display browser, rather, users will navigate through outline directory trees to reach their ultimate content destination – which may be any of a whole variety of open document types, inclusive of audio, video, and traditional text / graphic / interaction models. Nodes will be linked dynamically, and updated at numerous trusted hubs.

Gareth is absolutely right. If you're using Firefox at the moment just do a quick Ctrl+b to display your bookmarks sidebar. What if each of those folders was an OPML node? And Firefox automatically synchronized the hierarchy with an OPML host like OPMLworkstation?

Now, imagine that you could also search and import the hosted bookmark directories of other Firefox users and splice them into your structure. It would be very much like Kosso's OPML Manager, only built into the browser. It would be drag and drop simple to build and share your own directory structures with the whole world. A truly distributed DMOZ would flower overnight. A thousand different DMOZs, customized and personalized according to user preferences, assembled lego brick by lego brick. A distributed DMOZ for the Live Web incorporating Live Bookmarks (RSS feeds) as much as static web pages. Perfect feed grazing fodder.

Dan MacTough, the creator of the feed grazer Optimal Brower, was apparently thinking along the same lines when he offered a tool to translate your XBEL bookmarks to OPML. Its useful for the bootstrap but of course we really need this functionality baked into the browser. C'mon Mozilla, support OPML and help us to build a massively distributed network file system.

Shave that Yak with a grazer blade

Two weeks ago I waved bye-bye to my blogroll and replaced it with a feed grazer (see sidebar). But it wasn't until I saw Solomon Duskis' Grazr panel that I really understood how it can work like a webring-blogroll hybrid. He included my OPML file in his top level node so you can simply pull it in for grazing directly in his grazr panel. Instead of teleporting you to another resource las a blogroll does a grazer synthesises it in place.

It struck me then that an OPML file has a similar relationship to a feed grazer as a disposable blade does to a razor. When clicking through on my node in Solomon's Grazr you are effectively replacing his grazer blade with mine. And now that I've added a "My Grazer Blades" sub-node to my top level view you can click on through to replace my blade with others. It'll be fun to do this when a large number of bloggers have published their OPML but for the moment you can enjoy the infitite loop of swapping Solomon's blade for mine ;-)

Yes, it might seem like you're shaving the Yak but at least its a fancy way to do it - "Grazr, for the best a Yak can get"

The Lego brick of Web 2.0

I'd totally forgotten about Chris Pirillo's Gada.be search engine until Bernie Goldbach reminded us of it today. He gave the example of a search on Irish Blog Awards founder Damien Mulley which, because the results are uniquely OPML formatted, is perfect for slotting right into the Open Irish Directory. You can thus browse those results in the Grazr widget in the sidebar here, under the News & Media -> Bloggers directory.

Remember, RSS is all about action and change, OPML describes structure and relationships. If RSS is the plumbing of Web 2.0  then it looks like OPML is quickly turning into the Lego brick.

Exclusive: new Feed Grazer sneak peek!

At last a Feed Grazer I can put in my Blog sidebar! [1]

Scroll down the page here and see, on the left hand side, the Open Irish Directory as presented by Grazr Mini (powered by Grazr). Mike Kowalchik has done an amazing job of distilling the essence of Feed Grazing and presented it in a really slick package. The browser has an intuitive side-scrolling GUI with an arrow in the left hand margin to go back up a level of the hierarchy at any time. Try following this path for instance -

News & Media -> Blogging -> Ken McGuire -> Blogs -> Creative Imagination Blog -> eBusiness Seminar in Kilkenny

And see how the latest item from Ken McGuire's blog can be read inline. Just click on the 'Go to site / Read More' link for the rest. Or follow this path...

Arts, Culture & History -> Irish Film -> etc

... to see how Ken's Irish Film node is automagically sucked down from where he hosts it and included in the hierarchy. That's the magic of OPML inclusion and the power of a distributed OPML directory. Try...

Sport & Recreation -> Outdoor Adventure -> etc

.. to see how Robin Blandford's Outdoor Adventure directory is similarly automagically included. Or you could try...

Entertainment & Shopping -> Shopping -> etc

... to browse Paul O'Mahony's harvested links. And if you want a quick way to catch up on what the nominees for the Irish Blog Awards are saying you can follow the path...

Computers & Communicatins -> Industry Events & Exhibitions -> Irish Blog Awards -> etc

... to read the latest headlines from each blogger sorted by category. Perhaps you'd like to catch up on your Digital Rights? Then follow...

Government & Law -> Citizen Informatin, Services & Rights -> Digital Rights -> Digital Rights reading list

... to browse through Simon McGarr's extensive resource listing. Convinced yet that Feed Grazing in kinda useful? ;->

By the way, we're still looking for more node managers for the Open Irish Directory project. Please join us to help build out this free, distributed resource for Irish internet newbies. Wondering what you could build a node about? Well, your locality for starters! And most likely a hobby or interest. Just email me at address above for more information.

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[1] OPod can also be put in a blog sidebar if your server is setup correctly