Nice one Jeremy! And particularly handy because I still haven't had a chance to read the threads (to my shame).
The url wrapped for me, so here it is as a tiny url in case it's wrapped for others on the list: http://tinyurl.com/2rf92g
I went to an 'open source jam' at Google the other day, and lots of people had interesting things to say about good API design. I've summarised some of it at http://openobjects.blogspot.com/2008/02/open-source-jam-osjam-designing-stuff.html (or http://tinyurl.com/2nqx3h if the first link wraps).
cheers, Mia
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group on behalf of Ottevanger, Jeremy
Sent: Wed 27/02/2008 5:15 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [no sig] EDL/API follow-up
Dear all,
Following the discussion we had on two threads recently concerning the
European Digital Library and the case for an API onto it, I've tried to
collate the ideas and summarise what was said. I've probably
misrepresented some of your thoughts or compressed them too much, sp my
apologies if I got any of you wrong. See here if you're interested:
http://doofercall.blogspot.com/2008/02/edl-api-debate-museum-computer-gr
oup.html. I am very happy to amend anything I've got wrong, and am still
keen as mustard to hear more thoughts or examples (either here or in
comments on my blog)
The main point of that exercise was to winnow out some discussion points
for the EDL meeting next week, and for that I've summarised the summary
into a few bullets relating the the concrete characteristics that were
suggested for an API. I will, however, make sure that some of the other
issues that were raised are also conveyed at the meeting, in particular,
barriers to participation. Since they're pretty brief , I'll include the
bullet points here:
* be "'open', feature-rich and based on established and agreed
metadata models/standards/schemas that allow multiple sources and
minimise data loss."
* feature most of the functionality that can be accessed from the
back-end
* include terms and conditions that specifically requires that UGC
be flexible enough to allow any reuse with attribution
* include a key to enable differentiated access to services for
different types of users
* enable the addition of "crowd-sourced" user-generated metadata
* be lightweight, using REST, XML and possibly RSS and JSON
Once again can I thank everyone who took the time to take part in the
threads, even if I didn't respond directly to your contribution. It was
all thoughtful and stimulating. Fingers crossed it feeds into something
good.
Best wishes, Jeremy
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