Some sites offer two versions of feeds; one is a 'headline only' version and the other a 'full' version. Other than the content, a significant distinction in some cases is the license applied to the data in each feed. (See http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Syndication.) For example, the Engadget site offers a headline only feed with (the equivalent of a) by-sa Creative Commons license, while its full text is by-nc-sa, prohibiting copying for commercial use.
Okay, so far so good. But let's say I'm an ad supported aggregator (commercial use of content). I cannot therefore display the 'full' feed and I'll need to truncate or elide the content. However, I could display the 'excerpt' feed with no problems. It would be nice if I could discover the related 'headlines' feed (which I can display with full fidelity) if the user tries to subscribe to the 'full' feed through my ad supported aggregator. However, right now, there's no automatic way to do that.
A [EMAIL PROTECTED] seems appropriate; I'm thinking of doing this:
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Headlines Only" href=""/>
...and then relying on software to determine that (1) there's another alternative version of the feed that (2) has a different license (requires fetching the feed of course) and (3) perhaps should be offered as an alternative to the user, or used instead of blindly truncating text.
My major question is whether a "headline only" feed is an "alternate" representation, or perhaps an "index" to the full feed, or perhaps a new relation (or two) is needed.
Thoughts?
--
System Architect
http://abstractioneer.org
