Dear all,
OK, at the risk of boring you all with this subject, but in the hope of
squeezing out a little more feedback on what should and shouldn't be in
an API for the EDL...
I did threaten that "Over the weekend I will try to put together a few
use cases for an API (output-side, not the APIs for managing data)." I
did jot some down, though they're not exactly well thought through or
expressed in detail, and maybe they're a bit samey, so please add to
them! Perhaps at least they're enough to suggest ways that we or our
stakeholders and audiences might benefit from an EDL API (previously
discussed caveats about depositing our content in the first place
notwithstanding).
Use cases for museums (and libraries, archives etc)
* Search own catalogue in its entirety within an IFrame (HTML
output from EDL). Alternatively, embedding search results in page
with AJAX or JSON (done client side) or server-side
* Search subset (a "collection") within their catalogue
* Map a set of themed objects
* Mash the EDL record with shop information, or an order form for
the museum's picture library
* Integrate EDL content with site search in multiple languages
* In the teaching resources section of the site, pull out 6
specific objects or a set of KS3 items to accompany a worksheet
Use cases for partnerships and strategic bodies
* Combine all of a region's museums into a cross-Hub search
* UK-wide listings of collections content associated with KS1
curriculum topics
Use cases for third parties
* Build a timeline of renaissance art and artists fed with details
of artworks from EDL
* Local history society shows a listing and map of museums and
archives holding material tied to Slough
* Coins and medals collectors' site embeds reference material for
roman coins on its guide pages
OK, you can do better than me. If your stuff was in there, how would you
like to use it, or enable it to be used by others? If you wouldn't want
it used by anyone else, why not?
Cheers, 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
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