New generation of feed aggregators

• A new generation of feed aggregators for Web 2.0 applications is being jointly developed by Asemantics and the British Broadcasting Corporation. As a first step in the process, Asemantics has completed the aggregator engine for the Memory Share service of the BBC. Asemantics has employed a novel approach based on Atom and optimised RDF/SQL data storages. Atom-based and REST interfaces allow for easy recombination of building blocks into a Web2.0 application, while the data storage solution allows for fast re-configuration and optimisation of each single query service according to market and application needs. Ultimately, with the Asemantics solution the BBC can now leverage existing data and development to provide new services quickly, inexpensively and without jeopardising performance

• The aggregator engine is capable of collecting Atom 1.0 and RSS feeds as well as other content references from internal (BBC) and external, world-wide sources. All management and control is based on the Atom Publishing Protocol. A set of REST services facilitate the integration with all other corporate systems involved in the application management chain. Input sources are validated using Schematron a powerful, standard solution. The approach enables the handling of a wide variety of input formats. It also returns complete and precise diagnostics an important feature when many different content providers are involved.

Results are being aggregated as Atom 1.0 documents simplifying re-aggregation and data pipelining in content syndication applications. All information is stored internally using the RDF model. We see this as an investment to preserve all richness of the original information and all relations among the data in a normalized model. The solution built by Asemantics uses transparent optimization techniques over SQL databases to achieve performances suitable for real-time use of the aggregator. This empowers applications with the best of both worlds: the richness of data in RDF and the performance of SQL search.

Rather than a one-shot exercise, the engine is part of a wider, Web2.0, Resource Oriented Architecture. The simultaneous use of the Atom format and protocols and the flexible RDF/SQL storage enables easy combining of software components and data sources into a Web2.0 application. This approach allows faster rebuilding of the system so as to follow, or better precede, market trends and needs.