OK, since my first idea, of mapping traffic data -> Google maps has been
done already now, here's something a bit different:
http://www.nickcrossland.co.uk/missingwordsround
It's a prototype for an online version of the 'Missing Word' Round from
'Have I Got News For You'. It takes 100 most recent headlines from the
BBC Backstage RSS news feed, updated every 15 minutes. The missing words
are selected semi-randomly by the server, so may not have quite the
comic potential of the TV version. PHP isn't renowned for its sense of
humour.
The feeds are filtered for certain keywords, since death, murder and
destruction aren't really that funny. The odd one may still slip through...
Because it is based on an RSS feed, there's the potential for 'guest
publications' - just like the show. That is, assuming 'Knitting Machine
World', 'Sea Shell Quarterly' or 'Centre Parting Monthly' publish an RSS
version of their headlines!
To-Do
# Track user sessions, so that you don't get repeat headlines
# Add 'funniness voting' to previous user guesses. Can then give the
'funniest' answers on the homepage, or show them more prominently on the
answers page
# Find a better way of analysing the headlines so 'better/funnier' words
can be blanked out (if anyone knows of an API or free source of a
dictionary, to work out whether the words are nouns, adjectives, etc
that would be very helpful!)
# Include more RSS feeds, perhaps giving users a choice of which one
# Give credit if you are close to the answer, rather than having to get
it exactly
~nick~
