News Curation Strategy Report

Value Chain Hackers Website

Report Date: November 13, 2025 Purpose: Document the news article sourcing methodology and RSS feed strategy

Overview

The VCH website automatically fetches and displays news articles from curated RSS feeds across two main categories:

  1. AI & Machine Learning News - Focusing on AI applications in supply chain and general AI research
  2. Sustainability & Supply Chain News - Focusing on circular economy, logistics, and sustainable supply chain practices

The news is fetched via a Python script (scripts/fetch_news_feeds.py) that runs automatically through GitHub Actions, updating the content regularly.

1. AI & Machine Learning News Sources

Primary Sources

Google AI Blog

MIT AI News

KDnuggets

SupplyChainBrain AI

2. Sustainability & Supply Chain News Sources

Primary Sources

Supply Chain 24/7

Circular Online

SupplyChainBrain

Logistics Management

BSR Insights

3. Content Filtering & Selection Methodology

Automated Process

The news fetching system uses the following approach:

  1. RSS Feed Parsing
    • Fetches latest articles from each RSS feed
    • Retrieves up to 10 articles per source initially
    • Extracts: title, link, description, publication date, source
  2. Content Aggregation
    • Combines articles from all sources in each category
    • Sorts by publication date (newest first)
    • Keeps top 50 most recent articles per category
  3. Data Structure
    • Stores articles in YAML format (_data/ai_news.yml and _data/sustainability_news.yml)
    • Each article includes:
      • Title
      • Link to original article
      • Description (truncated to ~200 characters)
      • Publication date (ISO format)
      • Source name
      • Category tag
      • Icon for visual identification
  4. Update Frequency
    • Automated via GitHub Actions
    • Runs on schedule (configuration in .github/workflows/)
    • Last updated timestamp tracked in YAML files

4. Keywords & Topics Covered

AI & Machine Learning Topics

Supply Chain & Sustainability Topics

5. Content Quality Indicators

Source Selection Criteria

Sources were chosen based on:

  1. Authority - Reputable institutions (MIT, Google) or industry leaders
  2. Relevance - Direct connection to VCH mission and focus areas
  3. Update Frequency - Regular publication schedule
  4. Content Quality - Professional, informative, research-backed content
  5. Accessibility - Open access to content via RSS

Content Characteristics

Articles typically feature:

6. Recommendations for Enhancement

Potential Additional Sources

AI & Supply Chain:

Sustainability:

Content Refinement Options

  1. Keyword Filtering
    • Add specific keyword filtering to focus on:
      • “supply chain”
      • “value chain”
      • “sustainability”
      • “circular economy”
      • “logistics AI”
      • “predictive analytics”
      • “warehouse automation”
  2. Category Expansion
    • Add subcategories for better organization
    • Consider tags: blockchain, IoT, automation, policy, case-studies
  3. Content Scoring
    • Implement relevance scoring based on keyword matches
    • Prioritize articles mentioning key VCH focus areas
  4. Duplicate Detection
    • Add logic to filter duplicate stories from multiple sources
    • Keep highest-quality or most detailed version

7. Technical Implementation

Script Location

scripts/fetch_news_feeds.py

Dependencies

Configuration

Edit the SUSTAINABILITY_FEEDS and AI_FEEDS lists in the script to:

Manual Update

Run locally:

cd scripts
python fetch_news_feeds.py

8. Current Performance Metrics

Last Update Stats

Source Distribution

AI News:

Sustainability News:

Conclusion

The VCH news curation system provides a balanced mix of cutting-edge AI research, practical machine learning applications, and supply chain sustainability insights. The automated RSS-based approach ensures fresh content while maintaining high relevance to the VCH community’s interests in value chain innovation and sustainable practices.

The current source selection effectively bridges academic research (MIT), industry leaders (Google), practical applications (KDnuggets), and domain-specific publications (Supply Chain 24/7, Circular Online), creating a comprehensive news experience for students, researchers, and industry partners.