Gathering and contributing content across diverse sources

Abstract

A content unification system is described herein that aligns related content from various sources into one unified stream. The system leverages tagging (e.g., hashtags or other added metadata associated with content) to filter and connect related content across sites, formats, and sources. One component of the system is a user-friendly and customizable “dash board” view of the various topics, called a “tagboard”. Tagboards can be quickly and easily created by users and can be embedded on any website. Users can interact with various content sources such as blogs, forums, or services without leaving the tagboard they are viewing. The content unification system provides users the tools to make the web efficient, increase user interaction, and increase the signal to noise ratio. The system also allows site owners and publishers to monetize their traffic better by directing advertisements to their content in real time.

1 . A computer-implemented method in a content unification system to gather data from various sources in response to a retrieval request, the method comprising:
 receiving a request to retrieve and display data related to a particular data classification;   retrieving, via application programming interfaces (APIs) data from more than one network accessible resource, the retrieved data including content related to the particular data classification identified in the request;   storing the data and associated metadata in a data store for subsequent retrieval;   accessing a rendering template for redisplaying the stored data and associated metadata;   formatting the stored data in a format specified by the rendering template such that the data is displayed in a uniform manner; and   displaying the formatted data,   wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the request comprises determining that a user visited a web page associated with a particular hashtag, wherein the particular hashtag occurs within data from multiple network accessible resources. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying more than one network accessible resource from which to retrieve data to satisfy the request to retrieve data. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein identifying more than one network accessible resource comprises accessing configuration information that specifies one or more specific web sites containing data to retrieve. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein identifying more than one network accessible resource comprises determining a uniform resource locator (URL) for at least one network accessible resource to be used to retrieve the data from the at least one network accessible resource. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein identifying more than one network accessible resource comprises identifying a data provider software library that the system will invoke to retrieve the data and perform source-specific handling for at least one network accessible resource. 
     
     
         7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein retrieving data comprises retrieving associated information, including at least one of data classifications, timestamps associated with the data, geographical data, an author associated with the data, and information for interacting with the data. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein retrieving data comprises intercepting a retrieval request before retrieving data from the network accessible resources, and accessing locally stored data instead of retrieving data from the network accessible resource. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising converting the retrieved data from more than one network accessible resource to a normalized format. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein converting the retrieved data from more than one network accessible resource to the normalized format comprises at least one of removing information from the data that affects redisplay of the data and truncating content. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising associating metadata with each retrieved data item, wherein the metadata describes one or more data classifications identified as associated with each data item. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein associating metadata comprises associating one or more of a time each data item was posted, an author of each data item, a network accessible resource from which each data item originated, and a location of each data item. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by one or more processors of a content unification system, cause the content unification system to perform actions to gather data from various sources in response to a retrieval request, the actions comprising:
 receiving a request to retrieve and display data related to a particular data classification;   retrieving, via application programming interfaces (APIs), data from more than one network accessible resource, the data including content related to the particular data classification identified in the request;   storing the data and associated metadata in a data store for subsequent retrieval;   accessing a rendering template for redisplaying the stored data and associated metadata,   formatting the stored data in a format specified by the rendering template such that the data is displayed in a uniform manner; and   displaying the formatted data, wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein receiving the request comprises determining that a popular data classification is associated with a particular hashtag, wherein the particular hashtag occurs within data from multiple network accessible resources. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the actions further comprise identifying more than one network accessible resource from which to retrieve data to satisfy the request to retrieve data. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein identifying network accessible resources comprises accessing configuration information that specifies one or more specific web sites containing data to retrieve. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein identifying network accessible resources comprises determining a uniform resource locator (URL) for at least one data source to be used to retrieve the data from the at least one network accessible resource. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein identifying network accessible resources comprises identifying a data provider software library that the system will invoke to retrieve the data and perform source-specific handling for at least one network accessible resource. 
     
     
         20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein retrieving data comprises retrieving associated information, including at least one of data classifications, timestamps associated with the data, geographical data, an author associated with the data, and information for interacting with the data. 
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein retrieving data comprises intercepting a retrieval request before retrieving data from a network accessible resource, and accessing locally stored, previously cached data instead of retrieving data from the network accessible resource. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the actions further comprise converting the retrieved data from more than one network accessible resource to a normalized format. 
     
     
         24 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 23 , wherein converting the retrieved data from more than one network accessible resource to the normalized format comprises at least one of removing information from the data that affects redisplay of the data and truncating content. 
     
     
         25 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the actions further comprise associating metadata with each retrieved data item, wherein the metadata describes one or more data classifications identified as associated with each data item. 
     
     
         26 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 25 , wherein associating metadata comprises associating one or more of a time each data item was posted, an author of each data item, a network accessible resource each from which data item originated, and a location of each data item.