The US Intelligence Community Metadata Working Group has issued a recommendation that the Intelligence Community, over time, move toward adoption of Atom Syndication Format as the Community’s standard XML-based language for syndication feeds.

James Snell has posted instructions on how you can produce valid Atom 1.0 feeds with WordPress.

Dave Johnson gave an excellent talk on the Atom feed format and Atom Publishing Protocol. Here's the abstract:

Beyond blogging: Atom format and protocol. Like XML-RPC and SOAP before, feeds and publishing protocols were born in the blogopshere and quickly moved beyond blogging. Nowadays, web service providers are using RSS/Atom feeds and REST-based publishing protocols as lightweight alternatives to SOAP. And developers are finding new ways to combine web services from different sites into new applications, known as "mash-ups" in the lingo of Web 2.0. If you'd like to do the same, then attend this talk to learn about the new IETF Atom feed format (RFC-4287) and the soon-to-be-finalized Atom protocol, which together form a strong foundation for REST-based web services development.

Check it out!

The following Blogger-generated but independently hosted weblogs have upgraded to Atom 1.0:

• AtomEnabled.org
• St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum
• An Antic Disposition

If your have a blogger-generated but independently hosted weblog, and your host supports PHP, you too can be on this list.

1. Install the script

   Download the script, and upload as atom.php. This file should go in the same directory as your weblog.

2. Promote the new feed

   This can be done in one of two ways:

   1. Redirect

      This is the most complete and comprehensive approach, however not all hosting providers allow users this level of control over the web server. If yours does, try adding the following to a file named .htaccess to the same directory that you placed the atom.php:

      Redirect atom.xml http://your.host.name/path-to-blog/atom.php

      Notes: these instructions are for the Apache Web Server. Instructions for other web servers, including Microsoft's IIS will differ. You will need to tailor your.host.name and path-to-blog.

   2. Advertise

      The other approach is to direct your existing and new subscribers to this new feed. Mention the change on your weblog. Update your auto-discovery and other links. To update your links, go into Settings / Site Feed (pictured below)

      

      Once you have navigated to that page, change the Site Feed URL to read:

      http://your.host.name/path-to-blog/atom.php

      Notes: You will need to tailor your.host.name and path-to-blog. You may also have other references on your template that need to be updated. Once complete, republish your blog via the Posting / Status tab.

If you have another Blogger produced site that has upgraded to Atom 1.0, feel free to leave a pointer to your site on the Atom wiki. Once your feed has been verified, this weblog post will be updated.

This site's Atom feed has been converted to Atom 1.0. Addionally, the Feed Validator is now issuing deprecation warnings whenever it encounters Atom 0.3 feeds.