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Subject:

Re: Uses of APIs for cultural organisations?

From:

Giv Parvaneh <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Museums Computer Group <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:53:49 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

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Hi Tristan,
 
As the Technical Manager of the National Museums Online Learning
Project I though it would be good to first clarify what exactly we are
doing and hopefully answer your question at the same time.
 
NMOLP is NOT just aggregating collection search results. We are using
two separate web applications to allow users to first search for
collection objects across 9 national museums then use these objects to
create their own narratives. Artists for example are able to describe
how certain collections have inspired their work by hand-picking and
grouping objects. These notebooks can then be shared publicly and other
users can comment on them. Plus we are developing various web 2.0-esque
features such as tagging, finding popular items, linking friends etc.
This project is not intended to expose the objects as a way of enriching
their content (a la Powerhouse's OPAC) but as a way of locating relevant
objects quickly to be used within different application. We are also
using our federated search tool inside WebQuests to create educational
activities for students. So online education would be an obvious use
case here.
 
It is also worth mentioning that the federated search engine is doing
more than aggregating results from partner APIs. It is also
intelligently ranking and returning objects based on relevance across
all 9 museums. So the federated search engine itself could potentially
have its own API to be used in different applications.
 
Cheers,
 
 
 
Giv Parvaneh
Technical Manager
National Museums Online Learning Project
 
Email: [log in to unmask] 
Tel: 020 7942 2819

>>> [log in to unmask] 19/08/2008 11:11:50 >>>

We are discussing the merit of adding an open API to the Online 
Collection part of one of our museum client's sites, and I am wondering

if anyone can think of possible reasons to do this beyond "it just
feels 
right"?

Off the top of my head, systems that access an API can do various
things:

- aggregate information
- provide alternative representations
- provide alternative interfaces
- syndicate information
- other (please state)

Of these, some examples I can think of are:

- aggregators: e.g. National Museums Online Learning Project[1],
ArtStor 
and others via OAI-PMH[2]
- other representations: e.g. mashups (which?), creating tag clouds,
etc.
- alternative interfaces: e.g. more accessible versions, desktop 
application versions, iphone/mobile versions
- syndicating information: blog 'widgets' (which?), ArtShare Facebook 
app.[3]

However, all of these are fairly generic or fairly sparse! Can anybody

think of other concrete examples of how information is being
re-purposed 
from cultural institutions? Or, any ways in which an API could be used

that I have missed from the list above?

Thanks,

-Tristan.

[1] http://www.vam.ac.uk/about_va/online_learning/index.html 
[2] http://www.openarchives.org/pmh/ 
[3] http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=7723691927&ref=pr 

-- 
Tristan Roddis ~ Head of Web Development

Cogapp

Lees House,
21-33 Dyke Road.
Brighton BN1 3FE

d: +44 (0)1273 829970
t: +44 (0)1273 821600
f: +44 (0)1273 829988

www.cogapp.com <http://www.cogapp.com>

blog.cogapp.com <http://blog.cogapp.com>/ -- "the art and science of 
engagement"/



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