Feedmasher is a system that is capable of gathering digital content from a wide array of sources such as traditional RSS feeds (ex: newsfeeds from cnn, bbc etc.), Twitter tweets, Youtube Videos, Instagram and more. Once data is fetched from an outside source it is pulled into the Feedmasher component and standardized. It can than be displayed in various ways and arrangements. For example: a channel on Arts in Rochester NY could display stories from multiple sources such as a local artists Youtube channel, the latest news from the MAG art gallery, tweets from prominent local artists and more. As opposed to having to visit dozens of individual sites it can be fetched and curated in one single spot!
Demos
There are a few demos of the feedmasher component in action:
- Rochester NY Pulse Demo
- RIT Feedmasher Page (now discontinued but still exists)
History
With RIT Web Advisory Committee guidance, work began in 2014 to redesign the RIT homepage and to introduce a new concept in institutional communication. This new concept introduces a set of brand-based channels as information delivery constructs. Combining social networking workflow, RSS feeds and aggregation, each channel is content fed by many official RIT information sources that are managed across colleges, centers, departments and divisions.
A few of these information sources include University News, University Research Services, Academic Affairs Scholarworks, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences Faculty Gallery, Student Affairs and several official RIT social media postings.The framework software that runs the channels was developed by John-Paul Takats, Information Technology Strategist in Undergraduate Admissions, during completion of his RIT graduate degree. The framework software is called Feedmasher which assists in content curation and standardization of information and media fetched for posting. Once source content is pulled into Feedmasher, it is guided by a predefined set rules that organizes and displays content in relevant channels located on the RIT homepage.
The Feedmasher system, which collects and organize digital from across RIT relies on various types of information feeds to pull in content. Developers play a big role in enabling this by creating data-streams and plugins for the system to use.
Feeding Content in
There are several types of content FeedMasher can import such as news stories and videos. This media can come from a wide range of sources/providers such as blogging platforms (WordPress, Drupal), social media (Twitter, Instagram), and video hosting services (YouTube). FeedMasher Plugins facilitate the collection of data from a wide range of formats like RSS, XML, and JSON
Continued work and my MS Capstone (2016)
I enjoyed working the system so much and continued its development and used it as a capstone project while I pursued my Masters degree at RIT. Below is a video of my MS capstone presentation:
Move to Open Source
After leaving RIT enrollment manangement and when the RIT homepage switched to a new system I pursued making the FeedMasher component open source and still try to find a little time to work on it. You can read more about it at my blog: FeedMasher Project Finally Moving to Opensource
