Transforming Current Awareness through RSS: How two projects (ticTOCs and Gold Dust) are using RSS to improve the information landscape for the 21st century researcher

Abstract: This paper looks at the current situation with respect to RSS and then reports upon the findings of the ticTOCs and Gold Dust projects. We will look at the lessons learnt from developing the ticTOCs service, and also report on two iterations of the Gold Dust development and use cycles. We will deliver an appraisal of the effectiveness of the raft of techniques being employed by Gold Dust. How effective are current data mining and pattern matching techniques for such an application? How useful is RSS metadata in this context? These findings will be of considerable pertinence both for future services which may use RSS Feeds, and for future research and development in the area of adaptive personalisation using RSS.