XML for Journalists
Derek Willis, The Center for Public Integrity
IRE 2003 Conference, Washington
What is XML?
XML is a markup language for documents containing structured information.
So is it like HTML?
Yes and no. HTML has a set of markup tags that are fairly consistent: < b > for bold, < i > for italic, etc. XML has few fixed tags beyond tag. The interior tags can take on any name, provided the creator and user of the data know what each means.
What is RSS?
RSS is an XML format for syndicating content over the Internet. RSS files are XML files, but they have at least three common tags:
What do RSS files look like?
Try Jurist or the Christian Science Monitor
What are aggregators?
Aggregators are programs that read and display the contents of RSS feeds in a browser, Outlook or a standalone program. They enable you to collect information automatically from RSS feeds in a single place. These programs are available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh operating systems.
Here is a list of aggregators and here is another.
How do I make RSS files?
Some applications have built-in RSS generators, while other ways exist through scripting languages or databases. List of tutorials
Caveats
MS Access 2002 handles most XML files natively, although XML is a cranky language extraneous spaces and some characters may lead to corrupt files and errors. But there are other ways to shoe-horn XML data into databases or other applications, and theyre use and development is expanding.