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| A '''mashup''' is a website or ] application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service. This is akin to ]. | A '''mashup''' is a website or ] application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service. This is akin to ]. | ||
| Content used in mashups is typically sourced from a third party via a public interface or ]. Other methods of sourcing content for mashups include ]s (e.g. ] or ]) and ]. | Content used in mashups is typically sourced from a third party via a public interface or ]. Other methods of sourcing content for mashups include ]s (e.g. ] or ]) and ]. | ||
| Much the way ]s revolutionised online publishing, mashups are revolutionizing web development by allowing anyone to combine existing data from sources like ], ], ], ], ] and ] in innovative ways. The greater availability of simple and lightweight APIs has made mashups relatively easy to design. They require minimal technical knowledge and thus custom mashups are sometimes created by unlikely innovators, combining available public data in new and creative ways. While there are many useful mashups, others are simple novelties or ]s, with minimal practical utility. | Much the way ]s revolutionised online publishing, mashups are revolutionizing web development by allowing anyone to combine existing data from sources like ], ], ], ], ] and ] in innovative ways. The greater availability of simple and lightweight APIs has made mashups relatively easy to design. They require minimal technical knowledge and thus custom mashups are sometimes created by unlikely innovators, combining available public data in new and creative ways. While there are many useful mashups, others are simple novelties or ]s, with minimal practical utility. | ||
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- This article is about computer software. For music mashups, see Mashup (music).
A mashup is a website or Web 2.0 application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service. This is akin to transclusion.
Content used in mashups is typically sourced from a third party via a public interface or API. Other methods of sourcing content for mashups include Web feeds (e.g. RSS or Atom) and JavaScript.
Much the way blogs revolutionised online publishing, mashups are revolutionizing web development by allowing anyone to combine existing data from sources like Amazon.com, eBay, Google, Strikeiron, Windows Live and Yahoo! in innovative ways. The greater availability of simple and lightweight APIs has made mashups relatively easy to design. They require minimal technical knowledge and thus custom mashups are sometimes created by unlikely innovators, combining available public data in new and creative ways. While there are many useful mashups, others are simple novelties or gimmicks, with minimal practical utility.
Advocates and supporters of Web 2.0 applications claim that mashups exemplify this new movement with their active user participation and interaction.
History of term
The etymology of this term almost certainly derives from its similar use in pop music where DJs would, for example, take the vocal track from one song and combine it with the instrumental track of another song resulting in an entirely new composition. This 'genre' is also often associated with other terms such as Bastard Pop or Booty's (bootlegs).
Mapping mashups
Mashups, though they have been around since the first API was released, have begun to garner more media attention since the beginning of 2006 due to many web companies beginning to fully embrace Web 2.0 technologies that enable many people (and more specifically web developers) to easily interface with the primary company’s intellectual property. A good example of this would be Google creating the Google Maps API and letting anyone utilize their Google Maps software and databases so that individuals can develop many new and creative uses for the mapping software. One of the more popular Google Maps mashups is the Chicago Crime map. There is an entire blog devoted to popular Google Mapping mashups. Mashups can take the form of many other projects from the ingenious HousingMaps, HnlHousing (a combination of Craigslist and Google Maps), Trulia and Urban Registry, to the obscure, such as birth places of Oscar Winners. Other popular mashups include those that allow fans of popular TV series to see where many scenes from each episode were filmed. This data is compiled by devout fans, not the television network. Another mashup allows fans of American Idol to hone in on each of the contestant's home towns.
Dashups are mashups that include critical data. The term dashup, coined by Dean Stoecker, was defined in a June 2006 podcast about SRC's FreeDemographics API allowing developers to incorporate US census data into mashups using spatial variable references (with or without map displays). That podcast, Very Spatial SRC Dash-up Press Announcement (AVSP SE 10 avsp Roadshow ), describes use of the API and applications.
See also: Goggles, a Google Maps-based Flight Simulator
Video mashups
Video mashups are mashups that use online video provided by video sharing services APIs together with other types of data. For example, a mapping application can display thumbnails of video clips next to different geographical locations, such as virtualvideomap.com, allowing application users to play video clips about that location. Video mashups are similar to photo mashups made popular by the Flickr API but they use video data instead of photo. Currently, YouTube.com and Grouper Networks provide free video APIs for mashup developers.
Conflict over mashups
Most mashups interface with and utilize information from established companies and web applications, occasionally without asking for permission. It is not uncommon for a mashup to display this information in a manner that the larger entity does not approve of, and a few scuffles have occurred on ethical grounds. Currently many data providers specify that data used in mashups cannot be used for commercial purposes or are run on a non-profit basis. This ensures that the financial risk to the data providers is minimal and prevents rival profit-making services being created that augment or surpass the usability of the original data source. Still, it is possible that if mashups prove to be a useful business tool or a viable market then corporate mashups will emerge as a paid-for service.
Sometimes, mashups are prohibited by the user agreement of the web site. Ebay, for example, prohibits using their content in this manner through its user agreement.
Mashup Camp
Mashups are not just limited to mapping. Mashups jumped into the media spotlight with the first Mashup Camp, which took place in Silicon Valley on February 20–21, 2006. Co-organized by David Berlind of ZDNet and Doug Gold, the Camp Agenda covered issues from Mashing Wikis to API Best Practices. The attendees voted for the best mashup and the winner was Podbop, a mashup by Taylor McKnight and Daniel Westermann-Clark that allows users to choose a city and listen to legally available music from bands playing in town that day and in the future.
News sources from CBS News to Newsweek (posted on MSNBC) all took an interest in what mashups can do. The San Jose Mercury News also covered the event. This not only raised awareness in the technical community but also introduced many outside to the new concept of combining multiple technologies.
A Mashup Camp 2 was planned for July 12-13, 2006...
Quotes
"Nowadays, there's a lot of talk about Web 2.0, web mashups, Ajax, etc., which in my mind are all facets of the same phenomenon: that information and presentation are being separated in ways that allow for novel forms of reuse." Sho Kuwamoto
"The mash-up part of this equation is the offspring of an environment where application developers see it in their own self-interest to facilitate the creation of integrated yet highly derivative application hybrids by third parties, something they do by providing rich public APIs to their user base." Mark Sigal
"We know we don't have a corner on creativity. There are creative people all around the world, hundreds of millions of them, and they are going to think of things to do with our basic platform that we didn't think of. So the mashup stuff is a wonderful way of allowing people to find new ways of applying the basic infrastructures we're propagating. This will turn out to be a major source of ideas for applying Google-based technology to a variety of applications." Vint Cerf
See also
External links
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Articles about mashups
- Mashups: The new breed of Web app One of the best introductions to Mashups by Duane Merrill, published by IBM developerWorks
- Wary of a new Web idea that rings old New York Times article on News.com article by Katie Kafner which talks about the interesting but, yet, unfundable nature of most mashups
- Mashup ecosystem poised to explode ZDNet article by David Berlind
- It's all in the mix The Guardian article
- Mix, Match, and Mutate Businessweek article
- Mashups mix data into global service An article by Nature's Declan Butler on the emerging applications of the Semantic Web to science and some of the drawbacks (subscription required)
- The Monster Mashup Reviews of some of the latest science mashups and discussion of some possible future directions
- Tailor-Made Cartography with Google Maps An NPR audio and written discussion
Sites about mashups
- ProgrammableWeb John Musser's list of mashups, APIs, and a blog
- Webmashup.com The Open Directory for Web Mashups & Web 2.0 APIs
- The Tech Beat: Mash-ups Blog entries on mashups from Business Week
- Mashup feeds Subscribe to mashup feeds to receive alerts when new mashups are released
- Open Source GIS Master index of Open Source GIS applications.
- Mashups.Com Mashups resource covering Software and Music Mashups
Mashup-related events
- Mashing up the Library supported by Talis to encourage mashup developers and library users worldwide to think creatively about ways in which data from libraries might be combined and made visible in innovative and interesting ways.
- Mashup Camp Organized by David Berlind and Doug Gold for mashup developers, mashup API providers, other mashup enablers (eg: tools), and others with an interest in participating in the now-evolving mashup ecosystem.
- Mix06 A three-day Microsoft-organized event with the tagline "Mix the next Web now."
- TechSoup's NetSquared Remix the Web for Social Change
- Web Mash-ups and CSCW: Opportunities and Issues CSCW 2006 Conference Workshop exploring mashups and CSCW research.