Hi Mike,
Well I knew if there was one person who'd be in favour of this it would probably be you! I like your rule of thumb. Being pretty inexperienced in actually programming against web-based APIs myself, much more used to hacking around the back, this has an appealing simplicity.
I guess the next question for something like EDL is, which of the functions should be accessible to whom? As content contributors we'd want to get at all our own stuff (and the user generated content built up around it). We'd also want, perhaps, to manage this content via API calls, although the multi-layer approach to content aggregation into the PNDS and Culture24, via the IAP and on to EDL may preclude this. How about non-contributors? Would they be able to access the same content (from LAMs and UGC) as those organisations that had submitted their catalogue records to EDL? For me the answer is yes, but there could be restrictions. I'd like the local history society to be able to pull out relevant content in a search engine embedded on their site, and show that stuff on a map. Should they be able to pull in the UGC around those items too? I don't know. Maybe the tags, maybe not the artworks. Does the API complicate rights management?
If the overall architecture is API-centric, probably only parts of those APIs would be appropriate to open to general users, a bit more to contributors, and all of it to content aggregators. I guess.
Thanks for the input, Mike, talk soon.
Jeremy
Jeremy Ottevanger
Web Developer, Museum Systems Team
Museum of London Group
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London. N1 7ED
Tel: 020 7410 2207
Fax: 020 7600 1058
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.museumoflondon.org.uk
Museum of London is changing; our lower galleries will be closed while they undergo a major new development. Visit www.museumoflondon.org.uk to find out more.
London's Burning - explore how the Great Fire of London shaped the city we see today www.museumoflondon.org.uk/londonsburning
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike Ellis
Sent: 06 February 2008 13:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MCG] APIs and EDL
Hi Jeremy
I know that you and I have talked briefly about this before but I just wanted to add slightly more public support for this.
The notion of an API in *any* content-rich application should be moving not only in our sphere of knowledge ("I know what an API is") but *fast* into our sphere of requirement ("give me an API or I won't play").
Whatever the context, however the application is going to be used (or not), we should (I'm passionate about this and would actually say *MUST*) be very firmly pushing our institutions in this direction. Applications - either web or not - which don't give us easy, programmatic access into our data should be resisted. The siloing of data - which we're all too familiar with - has come from lack of standards and proprietary ("no in, no out") systems.
I did a presentation a while back in which I bang on endlessly about this - see http://www.slideshare.net/dmje/web2-and-distributed-services-mike-ellis-v2. If anyone wants me to come and give a similar one, I'd be delighted to do so...
So yes. EDL should have a feature-rich API. A good rule of thumb for this functionality is to ask: "how much of what can be done by back-end and developer built web systems can be done and accessed via the API?" In an ideal world it'd be 100%. If it's 0 then run away, fast!
I'll be in contact with you off-list to continue the conversation ;-)
Cheers
Mike
Mike Ellis
Solutions Architect
Eduserv
[log in to unmask]
tel: 01225 474300
fax: 01225 474301
www.eduserv.org.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group on behalf of Ottevanger, Jeremy
Sent: Tue 05/02/2008 12:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: APIs and EDL
Dear all,
Some of you will know of the European Digital Library, an EC project that is currently in a prototyping phase (known as EDLnet http://www.europeandigitallibrary.eu/edlnet/). It is part of the wider Digital Libraries Initiative (http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/digital_libraries/wh
at_is_dli/index_en.htm) and shortly after that I get lost in the maze of EC projects, initiatives, directorates etc. Anyway, its final form is up in the air, but essentially it is hoped that it will aggregate digital content from museums, libraries and archives across Europe. Quite what will be held, the technical architecture, how the content will be accessed and maintained and many other questions are working their way through the system, but one day it may offer a partial solution to cross-collection searching, at least for a subset of European-owned material. Apologies to those who know more about this subject, I'm almost certain I've misrepresented it!
I got interested in the project when I attended a meeting late last year, at which the organisers were brainstorming user requirements and ideas for the interface. I went along with a particular axe to grind, which was the need for an API. The basic rationale was that EDL will have limited appeal for users if they have to go to a single portal site to search, whereas it would serve a lot more people if it was the engine behind many sites scattered around the web. For organisations that might contribute content to the central repository, too, it would be a far more attractive proposition if they knew that they could then access the data themselves, embed EDL functionality in their sites or mash it up with mediating content, maps etc. EDL could act as a sophisticated online collections database for a small museum that could never countenance building its own search engine, much as one can embed google site search into your own page at present. This would be good for EDL because it could be quite a strong motive for contributing content.
Overall I think that an API could actually be much more useful than a "portal" website.
So to the purpose of this e-mail. An upcoming EDL "users and usability"
meeting, in March, will be looking more closely at the subject of APIs, and in preparation for this I was hoping to get some thoughts from the MCGers about:
* whether and why an API would be useful to them, or influence
their decision on whether to contribute content to EDL
* what features might prove useful
* any examples of APIs or of their application that they think
provide a model for what EDL's API could offer or enable
It would be nice to feel I could represent the thoughts of a good portion of the practitioners in the UK, or at least more than myself alone. Thanks in advance,
Jeremy
Jeremy Ottevanger
Web Developer, Museum Systems Team
Museum of London Group
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London. N1 7ED
Tel: 020 7410 2207
Fax: 020 7600 1058
Email: [log in to unmask] www.museumoflondon.org.uk Museum of London is changing; our lower galleries will be closed while they undergo a major new development. Visit www.museumoflondon.org.uk to find out more.
London's Burning - explore how the Great Fire of London shaped the city we see today www.museumoflondon.org.uk/londonsburning
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For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
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