I did a little more brainstorming on the idea of a name for talking about RSS, Atom, Info Bite, etc. all at once. Here are the results:

What does "syndication" mean? From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: "Syndicate, verb ... a: to sell (as a cartoon) to a syndicate [syndicate, noun: "a business concern that sells materials for publication in a number of newspapers or periodicals simultaneously"] or for publication in many newspapers or periodicals at once b : to sell (as a series of television programs) directly to local stations". Paraphrasing and relating to the internet, to syndicate is to make available for publication by multiple other websites. That's part of what these formats are for. But they are also consumed directly by desktop ... uh, syndication readers. For that use, the term just doesn't fit.

So where do we look for a better term? The starting point should probably be either the idea of publishing, whether for syndication or direct subscription, or the kinds of things feeds are used for: blogs, news, comic strips, press releases, earthquake data, job listings, website status updates, newsletters, sales, inter- and intradepartmental communication... Kinda tough to find a term that encapsulates all of that. Maybe the publishing angle would be best.

So, let's hit the thesaurus: Synonyms for "publish": distribute, issue. For "broadcast": disseminate, blazon, proclaim, promulgate, transmit, report. For "cast": distribute, scatter, launch, sling. For "reveal": disclose. For "syndicate" (the noun): pool, union. For "union": melding, connection, junction. For "meld": amalgamate, merge, mingle. Others: confluence, nexus. Nothing really jumps out at me too dramatically.

How about "webcast". Nope, already been used, generally for streaming video, as I recall. Maybe "netcast", which is more accurate anyway, since ... well, let's try it out--"netcast formats" aren't web pages (they're not HTML). That's been used too, but not as much--445,000 Google hits vs. 2,110,000 for webcast. Hmm, 445,000 is still a lot.

So, back to how the formats are used: if I weren't already using the name "Info Bite", I'd suggest that. It may not have garnered a huge number of votes in the Rename RSS Contest (which itself was thought by some to need a different name--how's that for irony?), but it seems pretty descriptive. Maybe we could find a variant of it: data bite, perhaps? That tastes good in my mouth.

Well, enough brainstorming for now--this question is too tough to settle in a single sitting. Maybe I'll just start using the term "data bite formats". Feel free to use it yourself. If someone tells you you've got it wrong, I'll take the blame.