About JetStream

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Tag Clouds + "Which way is the wind blowing?" = JetStream. This application is an experiment to demonstrate new ways of exploring data, starting with a temporal tag cloud.

Normal tag clouds show you what's popular for all time, which don't account for "relevance decay." JetStream looks at posts from a daily perspective so you can see what is important today. (Or what was important yesterday.)

The Tag Constellation is another experiment to discover related content by how various sites are combining and using the same tags. Think of it as "Six degrees for tagging Kevin Bacon."

How It Works

JetStream monitors the CNET 100 Top Blogs OPML file (but it could be any OPML), indexing all of the RSS or Atom feeds. These feeds are checked on a regular basis, whereby we index blog posts and articles by their tags and categories. From there we update a daily tag cloud, tag calendar, tag constellation, and multiple tag profiles that show you the hot topics across the A-List.

Tag-specific RSS feeds are provided through MySyndicaat's URL filtering functionality. Great stuff!

Get Your Own JetStream

If you're interested in an installation of JetStream that monitors your own OPML selection, send an email to jetstream at labs.techbrew.net or join the JetStream Discussion. Possible uses include intranet blogospheres, blog rolls, reading lists, or whatever floats your boat. We're still very beta, but we would like to hear how you might want to use it.