Notes on OPML work

If you’ve been following this blog lately you know I’m super psyched about OPML as a way to create and share bundles of RSS feeds. I love it! Creating an OPML file is like being an editor for a living anthology. I hope that lots of people will be creating OPML files all over the place on every topic soon. Here’s a few quick notes on what I’m doing in that department, please drop a comment if you have any thoughts to contribute.

  • I’m going to interview Lisa Williams, who blogs at OPML Fan, for Net Squared in a couple of days. I’m going to ask her, amongst other things, for some real clear basic info that I can share with others.
  • I’m going to try to write up a “What is OPML?” resource page to go on the left side bar of this site. The closest thing I have right now is probably the 5 Useful OPML files post here.

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A Meme: Your Top Sources on Your Field

Nancy White has picked up a meme and ran with it, from Paul Currion:
What five resources – online or otherwise – would you point people to, if you wanted to give them an entry into your field of expertise?

Interesting question. Here’s my reply:

I know the meme was originally started in the non profit sector and not all of the above fit neatly into that, but I think they are all very relevant.

An important step in a meme like this is, I believe, offering an OPML file so that readers can subscribe to these feeds easily. Here’s mine: MarshallFavs

I need to add a “What is OPML?” page to my left side bar resources, but for now if you’re unfamiliar you can check out this post over at Net Squared: Intro to OPML.

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Net Squared podcasts

I just checked out the Net Squared podcast channel at Odeo today. It’s pretty cool, worth subscribing to for sure. If you’ve got any interest in Net Squared you should give one of the 15 minute updates a listen. They are far better produced than anything I could do with audio, thanks (I think) to the work of Eddie Codel of Geek Entertainment TV. You’ll also hear lots of Britt Bravo over there. Good stuff: Web 2.0 meets non profits.

Recent resources rounded-up

A few posts I’ve made elsewhere recently that I want to make sure readers here are aware of:

  • Interview with Jayne Cravens of Coyote Communications on international and online volunteering.
  • Interview with Mini Kahlon of SMASHcast, podcasts about studying math and science by youth of color. Very cool stories about teaching kids podcasting.
  • Memetracking the life sciences blogosphere – review of a site like Tech.memeorandum but aggregating highlights from blogs about Life Sciences. If biotech folks have got it together like this, do biotech watchdogs? I’d like to know. I want to email some folks like GRAIN (Genetic Resource Action International) and Institute for Science and Society. Both of those are very good sites if you’re unfamiliar.
  • Wouldn’t you know it, many of the OPML files I’ve created and posted here are now not working because the fantastic feed scraping services of Whatzwot.com are swamped with inactive users and are now requiring monthly updates to keep the feeds operating. Aack! I’ve asked about subscription options, but I guess this is one of the problems with emerging tools. Of course this isn’t a problem for organizations that already offer RSS feeds, but so many interesting ones don’t yet.

McDonalds lets its freak flag fly

McDonalds corporate social responsibility department now has a blog. The very first post is on animal welfare. Pretty interesting, lots of comments. I can’t post about this at length or I’m liable to say things that don’t need to be said. Add that to your list of interesting corporate blogs, though. One commenter advised the blogger to loosen up, to “let your freak flag fly.” I thought that was pretty funny.

Choking on Google

Sheesh, I’m refusing to write anything (except this) about Google today, I’m just sick of it and it’s driving me nuts. The Google Page Creator, Google Finance, Google Base payment systemGoogle partners with the US national archives, Google’s Mac Widgets. Those are all within like the last 24 hours. There’s some links if you haven’t read about any of those stories. Students for a Free Tibet have NoLuv4Google and I’m just burnt out on writing and reading about them.