<s>
The	O
name	O
Atom	B-Application
applies	O
to	O
a	O
pair	O
of	O
related	O
Web	O
standards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atom	B-Application
Syndication	I-Application
Format	I-Application
is	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
language	O
used	O
for	O
web	B-General_Concept
feeds	I-General_Concept
,	O
while	O
the	O
Atom	B-Application
Publishing	I-Application
Protocol	I-Application
(	O
AtomPub	B-Application
or	O
APP	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
simple	O
HTTP-based	O
protocol	O
for	O
creating	O
and	O
updating	O
web	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Web	B-General_Concept
feeds	I-General_Concept
allow	O
software	O
programs	O
to	O
check	O
for	O
updates	O
published	O
on	O
a	O
website	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
provide	O
a	O
web	B-General_Concept
feed	I-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
site	O
owner	O
may	O
use	O
specialized	O
software	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
content	B-Protocol
management	I-Protocol
system	I-Protocol
)	O
that	O
publishes	O
a	O
list	O
(	O
or	O
"	O
feed	O
"	O
)	O
of	O
recent	O
articles	O
or	O
content	O
in	O
a	O
standardized	O
,	O
machine-readable	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
feed	O
can	O
then	O
be	O
downloaded	O
by	O
programs	O
that	O
use	O
it	O
,	O
like	O
websites	O
that	O
syndicate	O
content	O
from	O
the	O
feed	O
,	O
or	O
by	O
feed	B-Application
reader	I-Application
programs	O
that	O
allow	O
internet	O
users	O
to	O
subscribe	O
to	O
feeds	O
and	O
view	O
their	O
content	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atom	B-Application
format	O
was	O
developed	O
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
to	O
RSS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ben	O
Trott	O
,	O
an	O
advocate	O
of	O
the	O
new	O
format	O
that	O
became	O
Atom	B-Application
,	O
believed	O
that	O
RSS	O
had	O
limitations	O
and	O
flaws	O
—	O
such	O
as	O
lack	O
of	O
on-going	O
innovation	O
and	O
its	O
necessity	O
to	O
remain	O
backward	B-General_Concept
compatible	I-General_Concept
—	O
and	O
that	O
there	O
were	O
advantages	O
to	O
a	O
fresh	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Proponents	O
of	O
the	O
new	O
format	O
formed	O
the	O
IETF	O
Atom	B-Application
Publishing	O
Format	O
and	O
Protocol	O
Workgroup	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atom	B-Application
Syndication	I-Application
Format	I-Application
was	O
published	O
as	O
an	O
IETF	O
proposed	O
standard	O
in	O
(	O
December	O
2005	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Atom	B-Application
Publishing	I-Application
Protocol	I-Application
was	O
published	O
as	O
(	O
October	O
2007	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
blogging	O
community	O
uses	O
web	B-General_Concept
feeds	I-General_Concept
to	O
share	O
recent	O
entries	O
 '	O
headlines	O
,	O
full	O
text	O
,	O
and	O
even	O
attached	O
multimedia	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
people	O
use	O
Atom	B-Application
and	O
other	O
web-syndication	O
formats	O
for	O
many	O
purposes	O
,	O
including	O
journalism	O
,	O
marketing	O
,	O
bug-reports	O
,	O
or	O
any	O
other	O
activity	O
involving	O
periodic	O
updates	O
or	O
publications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Atom	B-Application
also	O
provides	O
a	O
standard	O
way	O
to	O
export	O
an	O
entire	O
blog	O
,	O
or	O
parts	O
of	O
it	O
,	O
for	O
backup	O
or	O
for	O
importing	O
into	O
other	O
blogging	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
common	O
to	O
find	O
web	B-General_Concept
feeds	I-General_Concept
on	O
major	O
websites	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
on	O
many	O
smaller	O
ones	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
websites	O
let	O
people	O
choose	O
between	O
RSS	O
-	O
or	O
Atom-formatted	O
web	B-General_Concept
feeds	I-General_Concept
;	O
others	O
offer	O
only	O
RSS	O
or	O
only	O
Atom	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
particular	O
,	O
many	O
blog	O
and	O
wiki	B-Protocol
sites	O
offer	O
their	O
web	B-General_Concept
feeds	I-General_Concept
in	O
the	O
Atom	B-Application
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
feed	B-Application
reader	I-Application
or	O
"	O
aggregator	O
"	O
program	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
check	O
feeds	O
and	O
to	O
display	O
new	O
articles	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Client-side	B-Operating_System
readers	O
may	O
also	O
be	O
designed	O
as	O
standalone	O
programs	O
or	O
as	O
extensions	O
to	O
existing	O
programs	O
like	O
web	B-Application
browsers	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Web-based	O
feed	B-Application
readers	I-Application
and	O
news	B-Application
aggregators	I-Application
require	O
no	O
software	O
installation	O
and	O
make	O
the	O
user	O
's	O
"	O
feeds	O
"	O
available	O
on	O
any	O
computer	O
with	O
web	O
access	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
aggregators	O
syndicate	O
(	O
combine	O
)	O
web	B-General_Concept
feeds	I-General_Concept
into	O
new	O
feeds	O
,	O
e.g.	O
,	O
taking	O
all	O
football-related	O
items	O
from	O
several	O
sports	O
feeds	O
and	O
providing	O
a	O
new	O
football	O
feed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Atom	B-Application
emerged	O
as	O
a	O
format	O
intended	O
to	O
rival	O
or	O
replace	O
RSS	O
,	O
CNET	O
described	O
the	O
motivation	O
of	O
its	O
creators	O
as	O
follows	O
:	O
"	O
Winer	O
's	O
opponents	O
are	O
seeking	O
a	O
new	O
format	O
that	O
would	O
clarify	O
RSS	O
ambiguities	O
,	O
consolidate	O
its	O
multiple	O
versions	O
,	O
expand	O
its	O
capabilities	O
,	O
and	O
fall	O
under	O
the	O
auspices	O
of	O
a	O
traditional	O
standards	O
organization.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
brief	O
description	O
of	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
ways	O
Atom	B-Application
1.0	O
differs	O
from	O
RSS	O
2.0	O
has	O
been	O
given	O
by	O
Tim	O
Bray	O
,	O
who	O
played	O
a	O
major	O
role	O
in	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
Atom	B-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atom	B-Application
working	O
group	O
chose	O
instead	O
to	O
use	O
timestamps	O
formatted	O
according	O
to	O
the	O
rules	O
specified	O
by	O
(	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
ISO	O
8601	O
;	O
see	O
for	O
differences	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Atom	B-Application
,	O
on	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
,	O
uses	O
the	O
standard	O
xml:lang	B-Protocol
attribute	O
to	O
make	O
it	O
possible	O
to	O
specify	O
a	O
language	O
context	O
for	O
every	O
piece	O
of	O
human-readable	O
content	O
in	O
the	O
feed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Atom	B-Application
also	O
differs	O
from	O
RSS	O
in	O
that	O
it	O
supports	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
Internationalized	B-Protocol
Resource	I-Protocol
Identifiers	I-Protocol
,	O
which	O
allow	O
links	O
to	O
resources	O
and	O
unique	O
identifiers	O
to	O
contain	O
characters	O
outside	O
the	O
US	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
character	I-Protocol
set	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
elements	O
of	O
the	O
RSS	O
vocabulary	O
are	O
not	O
generally	O
reusable	O
in	O
other	O
XML	B-Protocol
vocabularies	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atom	B-Application
syntax	O
was	O
specifically	O
designed	O
to	O
allow	O
elements	O
to	O
be	O
reused	O
outside	O
the	O
context	O
of	O
an	O
Atom	B-Application
feed	I-Application
document	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
uncommon	O
to	O
find	O
atom:link	O
elements	O
being	O
used	O
within	O
RSS	O
2.0	O
feeds	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Despite	O
the	O
emergence	O
of	O
Atom	B-Application
as	O
an	O
IETF	O
Proposed	O
Standard	O
and	O
the	O
decision	O
by	O
major	O
companies	O
such	O
as	O
Google	B-Application
to	O
embrace	O
Atom	B-Application
,	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
older	O
and	O
better-known	O
RSS	O
formats	O
has	O
continued	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
many	O
podcasting	O
applications	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
iTunes	B-Operating_System
,	O
support	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
Atom	B-Application
1.0	O
,	O
RSS	O
2.0	O
remains	O
the	O
preferred	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
CNN	B-Architecture
and	O
The	O
New	O
York	O
Times	O
offer	O
their	O
web	B-General_Concept
feeds	I-General_Concept
only	O
in	O
RSS	O
2.0	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
News	O
articles	O
about	O
web	O
syndication	O
feeds	O
have	O
increasingly	O
used	O
the	O
term	O
"	O
RSS	O
"	O
to	O
refer	O
generically	O
to	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
several	O
variants	O
of	O
the	O
RSS	O
format	O
such	O
as	O
RSS	O
2.0	O
and	O
RSS	O
1.0	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
Atom	B-Application
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Before	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
Atom	B-Application
the	O
primary	O
method	O
of	O
web	O
content	O
syndication	O
was	O
the	O
RSS	O
family	O
of	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
June	O
2003	O
,	O
Sam	O
Ruby	O
set	O
up	O
a	O
wiki	B-Protocol
to	O
discuss	O
what	O
makes	O
"	O
a	O
well-formed	O
log	O
entry	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
People	O
quickly	O
started	O
using	O
the	O
wiki	B-Protocol
to	O
discuss	O
a	O
new	O
syndication	O
format	O
to	O
address	O
the	O
shortcomings	O
of	O
RSS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
became	O
clear	O
that	O
the	O
new	O
format	O
could	O
form	O
the	O
basis	O
of	O
a	O
more	O
robust	O
replacement	O
for	O
blog	O
editing	O
protocols	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Blogger	B-Application
API	O
and	O
LiveJournal	B-Application
XML-RPC	B-Protocol
Client/Server	B-Operating_System
Protocol	I-Operating_System
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
effort	O
quickly	O
attracted	O
more	O
than	O
150	O
supporters	O
,	O
including	O
David	O
Sifry	O
of	O
Technorati	B-Application
,	O
Mena	O
Trott	O
of	O
Six	B-Protocol
Apart	I-Protocol
,	O
Brad	O
Fitzpatrick	O
of	O
LiveJournal	B-Application
,	O
Jason	O
Shellen	O
of	O
Blogger	B-Application
,	O
Jeremy	O
Zawodny	O
of	O
Yahoo	B-Application
,	O
Timothy	O
Appnel	O
of	O
the	O
O'Reilly	O
Network	O
,	O
Glenn	O
Otis	O
Brown	O
of	O
Creative	O
Commons	O
and	O
Lawrence	O
Lessig	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
notables	O
supporting	O
Atom	B-Application
include	O
Mark	O
Pilgrim	O
,	O
Tim	O
Bray	O
,	O
Aaron	O
Swartz	O
,	O
Joi	O
Ito	O
,	O
and	O
Jack	O
Park	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
project	O
also	O
lacked	O
a	O
name	O
,	O
tentatively	O
using	O
"	O
Pie	O
,	O
"	O
"	O
Echo	O
,	O
"	O
"	O
Atom	B-Application
,	O
"	O
and	O
"	O
Whatever	O
"	O
(	O
PEAW	O
)	O
before	O
settling	O
on	O
Atom	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
releasing	O
a	O
project	O
snapshot	O
known	O
as	O
Atom	B-Application
0.2	O
in	O
early	O
July	O
2003	O
,	O
discussion	O
was	O
shifted	O
off	O
the	O
wiki	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
next	O
and	O
final	O
snapshot	O
during	O
this	O
phase	O
was	O
Atom	B-Application
0.3	O
,	O
released	O
in	O
December	O
2003	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
version	O
gained	O
widespread	O
adoption	O
in	O
syndication	O
tools	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
particular	O
it	O
was	O
added	O
to	O
several	O
Google-related	O
services	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Blogger	B-Application
,	O
Google	B-Application
News	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Gmail	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
Data	O
APIs	O
(	O
Beta	O
)	O
GData	B-Application
are	O
based	O
on	O
Atom	B-Application
1.0	O
and	O
RSS	O
2.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
group	O
eventually	O
chose	O
the	O
IETF	O
and	O
the	O
Atompub	B-Application
working	O
group	O
was	O
formally	O
set	O
up	O
in	O
June	O
2004	O
,	O
finally	O
giving	O
the	O
project	O
a	O
charter	O
and	O
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atompub	B-Application
working	O
group	O
is	O
co-chaired	O
by	O
Tim	O
Bray	O
(	O
the	O
co-editor	O
of	O
the	O
XML	B-Protocol
specification	I-Protocol
)	O
and	O
Paul	O
Hoffman	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atom	B-Application
Syndication	I-Application
Format	I-Application
was	O
issued	O
as	O
a	O
Proposed	O
Standard	O
in	O
IETF	O
in	O
December	O
2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
document	O
is	O
known	O
as	O
atompub-format	O
in	O
IETF	O
's	O
terminology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atom	B-Application
Publishing	I-Application
Protocol	I-Application
was	O
issued	O
as	O
a	O
Proposed	O
Standard	O
in	O
IETF	O
in	O
October	O
2007	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
document	O
in	O
the	O
Atom	B-Application
Syndication	I-Application
Format	I-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
tag	O
should	O
be	O
placed	O
into	O
the	O
head	O
of	O
an	O
HTML	O
document	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
link	O
to	O
an	O
Atom	B-Application
feed	I-Application
.	O
</s>
