Archive for the xml Tag

SFTW: How to scrape webpages and ask questions with Google Docs and =importXML

Here’s another Something for the Weekend post. Last week I wrote a post on how to use the =importFeed formula in Google Docs spreadsheets to pull an RSS feed (or part of one) into a spreadsheet, and split it into columns. Another formula which performs a similar function more powerfully is =importXML. There are at least 2 distinct journalistic uses
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The style challenge

Time was when a journalist could learn one or two writing styles and stick with them. They might command enormous respect for being the best at what they did. But sometimes, when that journalist moved to another employer, their style became incongruous. And they couldn’t change. This is the style challenge, and it’s one that has become increasingly demanding for
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Data for journalists: understanding XML and RSS

If you are working with data chances are that sooner or later you will come across XML – or if you don’t, then, well, you should do. Really. There are some very useful resources in XML format – and in RSS, which is based on XML – from ongoing feeds and static reference files to XML that is provided in
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Games, systems and context in journalism at News Rewired

I went to News Rewired on Thursday, along with dozens of other journalists and folk concerned in various ways with news production. Some threads that ran through the day for me were discussions of how we publish our data (and allow others to do the same), how we link our stories together with each other and the rest of the web,
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Could Mashlogic be the answer to infoglut in the Web 2.0 world?

Combating information overload in the Internet age can be a tricky thing. The reader is often overwhelmed with the plethora of Web sites and news portals, and the publisher has to come up with a way to retain loyal users who will stick to their brand even while they are taken from hyperlink to hyperlink through an endless loop of
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Elsevier’s ‘Article of the Future’ resembles websites of the past

Elsevier, the Dutch scientific publisher, has announced details of their grandly titled Article of the Future project.  Their prototypes, published at http://beta.cell.com, are the result of what Emilie Marcus, Editor in Chief, Cell Press called, “…a challenge to redesign from scratch how to most effectively structure and present the content of a traditional scientific article in an online environment.” Prototypes
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Letter to Govt. pt3: Should councils publish newspapers? A response to the Media Committee

As part of a group response to  the government‘s inquiry into the future of local and regional media, Paul Bradshaw looks at the role of local authorities in regional journalism. Blog comments will be submitted to the inquiry as well as the blog posts. So. The Committee for Culture, Media and Sport want responses on “The appropriateness and effectiveness of print and electronic
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