Late last year I requested that some blog aggregator give some indication of the existence of indirect blog post citations, i.e., a blog thread. Adam Hertz suggested that this could be done using Technorati’s API.

I whipped up a crummy implementation the following weekend and contributed a small technorati.py patch along the way. I decided I’m not getting around to producing a non-crummy version, so here it is:

• DeepCosmos, powered by Technorati
• Example output for blogversation around Creative Commons License Distribution.
• Example output for Nathan’s post on Java and CC web services, which seems to have been cited by participants in an ongoing REST-vs.-SOAP flamewar.
• The code. Keep in mind that it’s a crummy hack.

If you attempt to use the DeepCosmos demo the first thing to note is that you need to obtain and use your own Technorati API Key. Check out the examples above if you just want to see what the output looks like.

I haven’t used this much since I wrote it. My request still stands. I’d use the information all the time if integrated into the output of Technorati, Bloglines, Rojo or similar.