Friday 10 April 2009

Mashups Are Messing With My Head.

Ok I think that this one part of of Web 2.o that I still don't really understand what it means. So if anyone can shed a little light on it I will be forever grateful. However, I have found a site that describes what a mashup is and gives relevant sites to show you how they work. Here is the definition that they give: 
"A web mashup is a web application that takes information from one or more sources and presents it in a new way with a unique layout
Confused: It is actually not the difficult to understand as the technical definition might make you believe. The driving power of the internet is information, and a mashup is an application that takes that information and shows it to you in a unique way".
By Daniel Nations.

I don't think that is the best so I went to my more trusted source wikipedia and they gave a much more better definition of mashups and this is what they say:

"In web development, a mashup is a Web application that combines data from one or more sources into a single integrated tool. The term Mashup implies easy, fast integration, frequently done by access to open APIs and data sources to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data. An example of a mashup is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct Web service that was not originally provided by either source".

The rest of the article gives more references, external links and types of mashups. It gives you a pretty good overview on what a mashup is and does and the references are pretty good to in particular I liked Travature which gives you all the information you need on travel while your on the go. I believe that it sends it straight to your iphone. 

Well I hope that this gives you same understanding on mashups. And while I have been writing this blog post and reading more articles I am getting a much better understanding as to what a Mashup actually is.

candy.
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4 comments:

  1. geekykj10 April 2009 at 3:28 pm

    Hi Candy,

    I am still getting my head around what is a mash up and what is just a database. I completely understand your confusion!

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  2. geekykj10 April 2009 at 3:41 pm

    p.s. I love the new layout!

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  3. Loretta11 April 2009 at 12:57 pm

    Hi Candy,

    I actually thought I had my head around what a mashup was until I started to reflect on all of your posts this week! I was still a bit confused about the 'uniqueness' of the application that makes it a mashup. From your post, I gather that it is more that just streaming information from different places to your blog - it is creating a resource for people that puts the information from those applications to a new/innovative use.

    Seeing you've been doing all that reading...do you think I'm understanding this correctly?

    PS: love the new layout - very well organised and clear. Everyone's going to the right, it seems!

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  4. Cath17 April 2009 at 2:06 pm

    Hey Candy,

    thanks for the definitions of mashups :) The mashup that you found - travature - sounds like it would be brilliant if you had an iphone because let's face it, the melways is designed for people who drive cars, not for those on the street or using public transport. Even though I love my melway and like having a hard copy, I've just realised that this is primarily because I drive to places I don't know. Though I use public transport a lot too and in the past I've had to print or photocopy or draw maps before leaving home. How fantastic to get a mashup can fit into your pocket and help you while on your travels!

    I concur with the others' comments regarding your blog design. I really like it and I think it's great that you keep updating how the blog looks.

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