XML-RPC is the remote procedure call protocol using XML for transferring small amounts of data back and forth using XML as the dta encoding. XML-RPC preceded Web Services and WSDLs and all of the standards committees, and it Just Works. For a view of what blogging aggregators and directories use for updates, check out Robin Good’s article “Increase Visibility in Blog and RSS Directories: XML-RPC Pings.” Realize if you are using one of the commercial blogging tools like Blogger or Radio, it is already performing the XML-RPCs in the background.

Joi Ito points to an article on “How News Travels on the Internet.” It’s an interesting view of the universe, but a bit self-centered, I suspect, and probably better titled “How News Travels through the Blogosphere.” For the few of us active participants, there are millions of folks going about their daily livves unaware of blog’s existence, save an odd reference in the news once in a while.