Dave Winer is right about Dion Hinchcliffe being right. The main reason why RSS is taking off is that it’s so simple. ‘For RSS to be successful for us, stability and dependability are essential features,’ Dion writes. I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say – as Dion does – that if we can maintain this stability, ‘having an RSS feed on everything gives us a world where just about anything is possible.’
Which is why I get terrified by things like the UK government’s attempt at a huge, use-is-mandatory subject taxonomy. The Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV) follows on from the Government Category List, which didn’t exactly take the world by storm. Release of a second version is due in April – yes, April 2006 – and there will be ‘regular updating’. In other words, the goalposts will be continuously moving. How people are meant to ‘tag’ their material appropriately with an ever-changing taxonomy is beyond me.