SirsiDynix Institute Webinars
Mashups: A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That
03.06.07
link to archived presentation
all notes below were taken by Starr Hoffman
Speaker: Darlene Fichter (read her blog)
Head, Indigenous Studies Portal
University of Saskatchewan Public Library
- played clip of song "The Monster Mash"
Mashups
- definition
- tour
- make a mashup
- library examples
- technical and social issues
(Poll: Who's Here?; enter your profession)
(Poll: Where do you work?)
Recipes on the Back of Jelly Bellys
kind of silly
how to make strawberry margaritas
Stupidest Term Ever!
"You're not mashing up, or if you are you'll get lumps. You should be creating flavorful CA cuisine."
--Tom Reamy
Definition
- A mashup is a web application that uses content from more than one source to create a new service
- content is typically sourced via an API or a RSS feed
- Term comes from pop music
Allow inexperienced web users to manipulate content in interesting, dynamic ways.
Don't have to be able to program.
Main attraction for IT is potential for self-service by end-users. They can combine things in the way that they need at that moment.
Build kits that allow people to create situational software. Display data about advertising success in various locations, etc.
In library world, ability to show relationships between different things. Show locations of article authors, etc.
Mashups are integrated into the browser--don't have to have extra software. A safe sandbox for experimentation. Don't need to access a server or experiment with live data sources (relief for IT).
Mashup Ecosystem
(graphic from Dion Henchquest)
- open data
- open set of services
- small pieces loosely joined
- you
Above: things that you need to create a mashup.
Untitled
(Examples of mashups in action: several slides)
Half of mashups use maps, but a lot also don't. Probably a future explosion in non-map mashups.
"Mashup" comes from pop music--vocal track from one song, instrumental track from another song to create a new song.
Example: Zip Code Map
Enter zip code: puts pushpin on map: made with zip code Census data, and Google Map API.
API: programmatic interface: set of routines to create mashup.
Example: Route Map for Deliveries for Library System
Include a photo of library, link ot website, address, phone number, click for driving directions.
Library route data + Google Map API.
Example: Daily Mashup
All things popular on a particular day; photos, links (social bookmarking sites), and news.
Flickr, Delicious, and (?)
Example: Newsmap
Can compare news from various countries. Color-coded for types of news. Shows visually that Canada had more world news reported yesterday than the US.
Can see a particular day in history. Compares news across cultures.
Example: Earthquake
USGS M2.5+ Earthquakes
Shows in real-time earthquakes for past week; gives information about each earthquake's location, size, etc.
USGS data + Yahoo Maps API
Example: Book Carousel
beautiful mashup in library world
Brings new books in libraries, combined with book covers; can click forward and back. Mike Cuningham, Cambridge University Libraries
Syndetics (book covers) + Data (top 20 new books)
constantly updated
Example: Crime Database
locations of various kinds of crimes (like arson); can see reputability of various areas (for living, business, etc.)
Google Maps + Citizen ICAM crim-watch site (which queries Chicago PD's site data)
Example: Frivolous Flickr Fun
Captioner
http://shadydentist.com/captioner
Colr Pickr (search by color)
more flickr toys:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/
Example: Housing Maps
Looking to purchase or rent; can choose location, price range, # rooms, some photos available.
Craigslist + Google Maps
Example: PlaceOpedia
Wikipedia + Google Maps
look for places and articles about them
Example: Data / Lib / Web Crunch
digital life aggregators
different things you're publishing in various sites; or on a specific topic
bookmarks, blog posts, photos
flickr, digg, delicious, 43 things, blogs, all consuming, blast fm (listening to)
Example: Group Maps for Online Communities
frappr.com/blogginglibrarians
Google Maps + community content
map created on frappr
everyone in conference, add yourself to the map
Example: LivePlasma
6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Amazon API
(is this what Bookmooch uses?)
Example: Weather Bonk
Google Maps + local weather station data
includes photos for some locations
(MISSED SOME DATA HERE; GO BACK FOR THIS)
Q: How do I find other mashups? Google "mashup?"
A: Absolutely--but I'll be showing other methods later, programmable web has a dashboard that shows new mashups. Some have toolkits for making mashups. "Where I Should Eat Lunch Today." -- location, maps, roulette wheel.
Q: How do you find where the creator's data is being queried from?
A: Sometimes you can tell from source code; not always. Usually tells somewhere on the site itself. As lbirarians, we are probably looking for the data sources more than non-librarians, who may just take it as reliable without asking.
Facts and Figures
from programmable web
(MISSED SOME DATA HERE; GO BACK FOR THIS)
Types of Mashups
programmable web chart: mapping types are 43%
non-map exmaple: doctors after-hours phone messages translated into text messages
Mashup Matrix
programmable web data
open available data sources
idea of popular data sources, and what they're being combined with
LOOK AT THIS AGAIN
Typology of the Mashup
- presentation
- client-side data
- client-side software
- server-side software
- server-side data
top three layers are most usable for non-experienced end-users.
Where to Start
- point & click, & publish
- "cloning"
- just program it
Point & Click means no looking at code.
If you're comfortable looking at a little bit of code, you can clone a mashup. Just change a few pieces and create a new mashup!
APIs/Web Services
- get an idea
- sign up for a developer token
- aws.amazon.com
- www.google.com/apis/maps/
- api.search.yahoo.com
- read the fine print about use
How to use data...
Example: CommunityWalk
build it there, take it to your own website.
satellite overview (don't need to know lattitude/longitude)
show places where people watch for migrating pelicans
way to give a tour of buildings mentioned in literature, historic buildings with photos, links back to library material
...just imagine ways in which this info would be interesting to people!!
Example: Western Springs History
Google Maps + local data
way to list all historical places in a specific location
ways to put names on the right side of the map
(Code to the WSH Site)
API key in red box; need to get her own API key to put in here (add your URL)
didn't have geographic locations in this file; command that "get"s data in xml
Darlene is not a programmer, but if you've used HTML, it may not be uncomfortable to do
data.xml
there's a URL in this code; location of further information
there's the descriptive text
lat/long markers
address (house #)
lat/long was the key piece in this code
Example: Find a Library
Darlene made this one; created an account and cloned from a restaurant tool
pipes (beta)
gives RSS feed for location
made ability to type in location and find nearby libraries
very powerful if you're a programmer
can combine into a feed for your users
can exclude certain things (example: "public libraries")
librarians are good about thinking about things in terms of operators, which is helpful
Try More Tools
- teqlo
- QEDWiki (IBM)
- dapper
- data mashups
- pipes
- coghead
QEDWiki builds mashups within wikis, very exciting. Good screencasts (tutorials).
Look for a video or demo on each site.
Just Do It
- lib-web-cats
- Directory by Marshall Breeding
in an hour or two, he added a view list on the map
(examples of code)
(steps in the process)
Mashing Up the Library Contest
talis.com/tdn/competition
Go-go Google Gadget!
by Blyberg
holds, checkouts, new books, popular items--can be added to user's Google Homepage
Technical Issues
- in its infancy
- need a better registry for APIs
- scale and dependencies issues
- how much to invest?
in its infancy...
(audio cut out; time limit reached)
Social Issues
intellectual property issues...
Unintended Consequenses
client-side scripts that modify pages
Find Out More
Google Maps Mania
Mashup Dashboard
Thank You
darlene.fichter@usask.ca
blog: http://library2.usask.ca/~fichter/blog_on_the_side/
Page Information
|
Wiki Information |
Recent PBwiki Blog Posts |
Create your own educational wiki!
Add to Del.ici.ous
Add to Digg