January 15th, 2004, 12:27 pm

Aggregate, Agitate

Following are some choice excerpts from my interview with Gay Gilmore, one of the founders of MyWireService.com, a web-based news aggregator that I’m writing about because it’s simple to learn. In basic language, explain what an RSS feed is

“We’re still in the beginning of the technology, and using acronymns like that don’t help the average person. It’s just average news from a website.”

In basic language, explain what news aggregator is

A person “chooses to subscribe to a news source that they are interested in, ” and all of the subscriptions “display in one page, like a custom newspaper.”

The acronyms are inhibiting to the average person, she says, because “no one needs to know what the technology is or the format behind it.” News aggregators “allow you to pick from certain set of news sources. You are presented with the latest news from these sources, and you can choose the ones you are interested in.”

“Instead of visiting all ten [websites] to see what is new and updates, I just go to my news aggregator.” MyWireService.com offers two levels of customization, she notes. First, you can select the news sources that you want, and ignore the ones you don’t. The second level is that “you only see what’s new since the last time you visited. You don’t waste your time; it’s only the stuff that has been updated since you last checked the website.”

Why did you start MyWireService.com? Gay and her husband Troy started the service for themselves, because “we’re news junkies … our favorites list was so long, and then all of a sudden, we were like ‘This is a great service.’ We should just do it.’”

The benefits of having a web-based aggregator, she notes, is that you are “not tied to a single application or single machine.” MyWireService.com is particularly suited to newbies, because “we don’t talk about RSS … we don’t require you to find the news sources themselves.”

Why are news aggregators important? “Because they deliver on the promise of the Internet. Getting info my way, anytime … You don’t depend on the paper and their delivery service. It’s a freedom that we all deserve, and it wasn’t possible before the Internet and open standards.”

“Because RSS is open, anyone who publishes online can be standardized,” and you can recieve information from their website “without sending email, or having to check the site.” RSS aggregators “combat the email newsletter.”

Why doesn’t the average person know about RSS technology? “It’s because we’re in a phase of early adopters … It’s a geeky thing. Way on the cutting-edge.”

The technology is now at a “turning point,” where more “sources are being supported.” “It’s a chicken and the egg thing.” When more popular news sites that are supported [with RSS,] It will staart to evangelize news aggregators.”

What is the future of news aggregators? Where do you see this technology leading us in the future? “I’m extremely excited about it. Today, when a question comes to mind, you Google it. You could never do that before. Now, we take it for granted. We’re at the tip of the iceberg.”