Mashups, Social Software, and Web 2.0
How Remixing Programming Code Has Changed The Web
Dec 17, 2008
Mashups merge at least two web applications or sources together in order to create a completely new web service and program. Although often advertised as a Web 2.0 tool, mashups actually build on a foundation based on Web 1.0 technologies. In using publicly available open source code called application programming interface (API), mashups draw on current awareness tools such as Web feeds, RSS or Atom, and AJAX to create something new for users.
Mashups and Music
When people hear mashups, most often they think of music mashups, which merge two or more original tracks together into a remixed tune. The music mashup gained notoriety in 2004 when DJ Dangermouse used Jay-Z's The Black Album and merged it with the Beatles’s White Album, forming a compilation album called the Grey Album.
Not only did other artists follow through with their own mashups, web programmers did the same, too, with their own mashing up of existing web programs.
Web 2.0 and Mashups
In facilitating and supporting participation through its open applications and services, mashups are in essence what Web 2.0 technology is all about: they allow greater interactivity, more user control of information, remixing, personalization, and the development of online communities.
Based on web-based social software tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Maps that facilitate communication, collaboration, and network/community-building, mashups are about group interaction, where individuals can self-organize and set social conventions and norms for their groups.
Mashups
What makes mashup technology an integral part of social software is that it is accessible. Prior to the social software movement, only experts with training in C++ or Visual Basic could publish complex internet websites.
In contrast, not only are fewer technical skills necessary to become a mashup developer, a simple mashup can be done in a relatively short period of time. Mashups have thus put web publishing into the hands of even non-technical users.
Mashup Case Study: Housing Maps
One of the first mashups created, HousingMaps allows users to search for housing and having a visual sense of where the listing is.
Using up-to-date information from Craigslist and the visual component from Google Maps, users can easily move around the map by using the directional arrows, while also zooming in and out for more detailed information.
Mashup Case Study: ChicagoCrime.org
ChicagoCrime.org is another example of something called a mapping mashup. One of the first mashups to gain widespread popularity in the press, the Web site mashes crime data from the Chicago Police Department's online database with cartography from Google Maps. Users can interact, such as instructing it to graphically to display a map containing pushpins that reveal the details of all recent burglary crimes in South Chicago.
Learning Mashup Programming
Although mashups are meant for novice web programmers, a strong grasp of source codes and web programming are necessary for creating mashups. There are useful mashup programming websites that are particularly helpful for those interested in learning how to create a mashup from scratch.
Mashup Editors
There are already several mashup editors that help user create or edit mashups.
It's been said that there are two to three web mashups created per day. Although they are still in infancy, mashups have already made an impact in the web. They've allowed users to pull in different information sources and merge them into one program. Mashups are a prime example of the evolution of the web.
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