Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gillman, David

Area of Concentration

Computer Science

Abstract

I created Infocatch to get web content delivered automatically to my ebook reader. Infocatch is an online service that tracks user-specified link locations on user-specified websites. When the links stored at those locations change, Infocatch can deliver the new links to users via email or RSS. It can also email users PDF compilations of the content pointed to by those new links. The first half of this thesis discusses Infocatch’s user interface, design, and implementation. It explains that Infocatch’s user interface and its use of xPaths to identify link locations make the link location subscription process both simple and flexible. It also explains Infocatch’s use of the model-view-controller design pattern. Infocatch would be unnecessary if more websites, especially social media networks, published syndication files. The second half of this thesis analyzes the rise and fall of syndication files and the feed aggregators that use them. It argues that their predecessors failed because they didn’t adequately facilitate customized content selection. It then argues that feed aggregators have been displaced by social media because they lack social discovery features, don’t merge the display of information streams with other functionality, and are hindered by their decentralized nature.

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