Shared feed reader and method of shared feed reading

A computer software product for supporting collaboration in a shared feed reader by multiple users, including a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in which computer program instructions are stored, which instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of:

• hosting a computer-based shared feed reader for remote access by multiple users;
• defining a group of users having members comprising subscribing members and non-subscribing members to web feeds, the web feeds comprising web feed posts;
• recording respective indications of trust among the members;
• aggregating the web feeds by executing a feed monitor and a feed retriever;
• invoking a group activities tool for exposing the aggregated web feeds to the non-subscribing members;
• making an assignment of selected ones of the web feed posts for reading by designated members, wherein making an assignment comprises:
• receiving from one of the members a request that a new web feed post be read by another of the members;
• obtaining an indication of a commitment from the other member to read the new web feed post;
• recording the request and the indication to thereby define an assignment status of the new web feed post and sharing the assignment status across the group to inform the group of the assignment;
• sharing respective read states of the web feed posts across the group, wherein the read states indicate which of the members have read the web feed posts;
• receiving annotations in respect of the new web feed post from the other member;
• storing the annotations and respective recommendations of the designated members for the selected web feed posts for access by the group;
• and
• fetching the selected web feed posts for reading by non-designated members responsively to the respective indications of trust therebetween and responsively to the annotations and the recommendations of the designated members, wherein at least one the steps is implemented in computer hardware.

A data processing system for web feed collaboration by multiple users, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory accessible to the processor storing programs and data objects therein, the programs including a computer-based shared feed reader configured for remote access by multiple users, a group activities tool, a group definition mechanism, a feed monitor, a feed retriever, and a fetching module, wherein execution of the programs cause the processor to perform the steps of:
• invoking the group activities tool to define a group of users having members comprising subscribing members and non-subscribing members to web feeds, the web feeds comprising web feed posts and recording respective indications of trust among the members;
• invoking the feed monitor for aggregating the web feeds;
• with the group activities tool exposing the aggregated web feeds to the non-subscribing members;
• making an assignment of selected ones of the web feed posts for reading by designated members, wherein making an assignment comprises:
• receiving from one of the members a request that a new web feed post be read by another of the members;
• obtaining an indication of a commitment from the other member to read the new web feed post;
• recording the request and the indication to thereby define an assignment status of the new web feed post and sharing the assignment status across the group to inform the group of the assignment;
• sharing respective read states of the web feed posts across the group, wherein the read states indicate which of the members have read the web feed posts;
• receiving annotations in respect of the new web feed post from the other member;
• storing the annotations and respective recommendations of the designated members for the selected web feed posts for access by the group;
• and
• fetching the selected web feed posts for reading by non-designated members responsively to the respective indications of trust therebetween and responsively to the annotations and the recommendations of the designated members.