You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query-continue>
    <logevents lestart="2016-07-01T14:40:55Z" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <logevents>
      <item logid="857" ns="8" title="MediaWiki:Sidebar" pageid="2" type="patrol" action="patrol" user="Veronika Laszlo" timestamp="2016-09-13T13:39:57Z" comment="">
        <patrol cur="2293" prev="1357" auto="1" />
      </item>
      <item logid="856" ns="6" title="File:Echosphere final.png" pageid="578" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="7t9ep9e91dpe0kzaaucne1ik6sor1y9" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:51:07Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:51:07Z" comment="" />
      <item logid="855" ns="6" title="File:160626 FINAL Presentation EchoSphere28.png" pageid="577" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="mxctuiov27oyboc118eb9roo7s9bwjn" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:46:36Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:46:36Z" comment="" />
      <item logid="854" ns="6" title="File:160626 FINAL Presentation EchoSphere33.png" pageid="576" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="bvmtdwetf5j1x73pq9qu7b3ly3tsqyf" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:45:33Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:45:33Z" comment="" />
      <item logid="853" ns="6" title="File:160626 FINAL Presentation EchoSphere32.png" pageid="575" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="85qnlhvn7dvqe2ethvx8lu08jrcm9ei" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:45:11Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:45:11Z" comment="" />
      <item logid="852" ns="6" title="File:160626 FINAL Presentation EchoSphere31.png" pageid="574" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="jg9wg84s0avhkcvr3126v0i4z7xasr0" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:44:43Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:44:43Z" comment="" />
      <item logid="851" ns="6" title="File:160626 FINAL Presentation EchoSphere30.png" pageid="573" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="lkpkit8oo1x78ipmfwa50y51wpiq314" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:44:23Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:44:23Z" comment="" />
      <item logid="850" ns="6" title="File:160626 FINAL Presentation EchoSphere29.png" pageid="572" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="1prj79v6h0b8fp0wqzkwi8g1qf7reia" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:43:43Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:43:43Z" comment="" />
      <item logid="849" ns="6" title="File:160626 FINAL Presentation EchoSphere25.png" pageid="571" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="86vvx0724cz41zl7ujut62fdgsgczr1" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:42:32Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:42:32Z" comment="" />
      <item logid="848" ns="6" title="File:160626 FINAL Presentation EchoSphere27.png" pageid="570" type="upload" action="upload" img_sha1="dkmjalwkuyowdr789w62p4jt45ds4de" img_timestamp="2016-07-01T14:42:03Z" user="Olav" timestamp="2016-07-01T14:42:03Z" comment="" />
    </logevents>
  </query>
</api>