Within the context of the 8th Hispano-Mexican Seminar on Library and Information Science, held from March 21 to 25, 2011, a platform for researching content published through syndication channels was presented for the first time. The software application developed from the doctoral thesis “Applications of Syndication for the Management of Bibliographic Catalogs” enables the retrieval of all content and news published by any media outlet through its content syndication channels. This tool allows, among other things, the continuous, real-time capture of publications in a manner very similar to how Google News operates. The main difference lies in the organization of information and the scientific applications developed through this research project. The research comprises two clearly distinct components: first, the development of the software application itself, led by Professor Blázquez; second, the compilation of syndication channels from Spain and Mexico to populate the syndication platform, a task carried out by Professor Esmeralda Serrano Mascaraque and Professor Blázquez. The ultimate objective is to explain the experience of constructing the tool, named “ReSync”, and to conduct the first quantitative analysis of informational content published over a 24-hour period by Spanish and Mexican media outlets. The results can be summarized as follows: 3,161 syndication channels analyzed and more than 60,000 published news items. Additionally, a list of defective syndication channels was provided, a ranking of media outlets with the highest number of syndication channels, a table detailing the distribution of syndication channels by media type (print, radio, and television), the thematic categorization of syndication channels, channels from specialized web media, and finally, the classification of content published in media syndication feeds.
Reference
- Blázquez-Ochando, M.; Serrano-Mascaraque, E. 2011. [Paper]. Platform for Research on Syndicated Content: Development of the ReSync System and Application to Spanish and Mexican Media. In: 8th Hispano-Mexican Seminar on Library and Information Science (Mexico, March 21-25). http://eprints.rclis.org/19030/
Abstract
The diversification of information transmission pathways on the network has created a complex content map in which syndication channels play a significant role, necessitating specialized treatment to ensure their scientific processing and study. The object of study is the development of the ReSync program, which performs these functions, thereby providing an experimental platform for massively collected information gathered through multiple channels or information sources. This function, typical of content parsers and aggregators, aims to be expanded beyond its current limitations. In this regard, tests are conducted on the importation, processing, and retrieval of content from the main syndication channels of Spanish-language Mexican media, enabling the determination of the total number of news items, the treatment of information across print, radio, television, and online media for a single story, quantitative data on publication ratios, and statistics regarding the topology and structure of syndication channels.
Keywords
Information retrieval, Content syndication, Parsers, Information management, Data mining, Media