Yahoo Pipes

Create a Simple RSS Mash-Up that Corrals Herds of Scholarship Data

Users with the most limited tech savvy and little interest in tinkering will be able to set up a small, but powerful Yahoo Pipe. A simple mash-up of disparate scholarship site feeds could save you an exquisite amount of time. The alternative is checking in, one at a time, on multiple bookmarked links or RSS feeds and sifting through dozens of news headlines for the scholarship info you’re really after. If you have not made the internet an integral component in your search for college funding then you are really going to be left out in the cold.

Yahoo Pipes was launched in the spring and I’ve only just tried it, but Wow! What a concept for wrestling information into submission. The visuals are fun and clean, and the utility is robust and fairly intuitive.

Explore the Interface

When you log onto Pipes/Create a Pipe, you are given a user interface that features a “Canvas” (“Drag Modules here”), Modules on the left in the “Library,” and the “Debugger,” below the Canvas, where you can view your Pipes output at various stages in the build. Y-Pipes is not hard and you cannot break anything. Build simple to complex data mash-ups via drag-and-drop functionality.

Let’s Create a Simple Scholarship Pipe

In the Create a Pipe user interface view: from the Sources drop-down menu in the left-hand library, drag and drop a Fetch Feed module on to the canvas. The Fetch Feed module opens up to show a +URL button and a field where you type in the feed URL of the website from which you want to monitor scholarship information, such as this one: http://www.collegescholarships.org/blog/wp-rss.php.

(Hint: How to find the site RSS feed-open up the webpage; this blog has a big, orange RSS icon. When you click on it you are taken to a page of pure RSS script; the URL in the address bar is the one you want to copy and paste into the Fetch Feed module).

Test out the feed: click on the Fetch Feed title bar, it will turn orange and any current feeds should appear down below in the Debugger field.

Add a second feed URL: click on the +URL button and paste in another feed URL, like this:

http://www.newscholarships.org/feed/

Now make sure the module is receiving both feeds by again clicking on the Fetch Feed title bar ; it turns orange. Click the “Refresh” link in the Debugger field. You should now see output for two RSS feeds in the Debugger. Continue adding feed URLs until you have the sites you’d like to monitor for information.

Finish building the Pipe by wiring together the Fetch Feed module and the Pipe Output module , which is already sitting on the bottom edge of the canvas—if you cannot see it, drag the Debugger’s upper edge downward until the Pipe Output mod is visible. To make a wire, click on the little circle along the bottom of the Fetch Feed module and drag a wire to the circle on the Pipe Output module. These are technically called “terminals.”

Refresh the Debugger output to make sure your pipe still works.

Yahoo Pipes allows you to publish and share your custom data pipe so other students seeking scholarships can use your information.

To Save and Publish:

Click the Save button and enter a name for your Pipe; save. Name it something that indicates what your pipe does, like “Scholarships and Grants.”

Click the Properties button:

Enter a brief description, for example, “simple search for general college scholarships.” Enter a few tags associated with the data: college, scholarships, and grants. Click Publish. When prompted to make your pipe public, click Publish (or Cancel if you prefer to keep it private).

Give your scholarship mash-up a test run: at the very top of the builder interface page, click on “Run Pipe.” In a new window you’ll see how your Scholarships Pipe appears to the real world—it’s a very clean list of scholarship information culled from the sources you chose.

Now this is about the simplest you can possibly make a Pipe, but feel free to experiment and even edit your creation. Thousands of users have created all kinds of intriguing data distillations. Here’s a link to my scholarships and grants pipe–slightly different configuration and use of a Filter module.

When it comes to scholarships, the name of the game is organization, persistence, and the ability to harness unfathomable amounts of dynamic data. This make-your-own custom data engine may just give you the edge on your competition.

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