Hi Seth, Very interesting topics you've raised there. If I think hard I may be able to come up with some examples for the former (although we haven't always been guilty of defining our audiences that clearly). The second issue, relating to APIs, is something I've been thinking over quite a bit lately too, in my case with respect firstly to opening up our own data (so far all I've got is some microformats and RSS for our events, and a basic REST interface to our publications, but collections data shouldn't be too far behind if I can just make a few decisions and find some time). Secondly I've been arguing the case for a public API onto a big European project called Europeana (previously, or also, EDL, the European Digital Library). There's every intention within that project to do this so in some ways it was pushing against an open door, but (with the help of some of the people on the UK's Museum Computer Group list) I've been trying to develop a coherent case as well as suggest some of the functionality and parameters such an API might offer. I've put a recent presentation and some follow-up thoughts here:
http://doofercall.blogspot.com/2008/03/heres-that-edlnet-presentation-and.html http://doofercall.blogspot.com/2008/03/public-api-inputs.html http://doofercall.blogspot.com/2008/02/edl-api-debate-museum-computer-group.html [these might well break onto multiple lines in which case just go to my blog home: http://doofercall.blogspot.com/] Perhaps there'll be something of interest there. Certainly I'd suggest that you keep an eye on europeana.eu as (if my dreams come true) this may provide a juicy example for your research. All the best, 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: jottevanger at museumoflondon.org.uk www.museumoflondon.org.uk Museum of London is changing; our lower galleries will be closed while they undergo a major new development. Visit www.museumoflondon.org.uk to find out more. London's Burning - explore how the Great Fire of London shaped the city we see today www.museumoflondon.org.uk/londonsburning Before printing, please think about the environment -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Seth van Hooland Sent: 19 March 2008 14:21 To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] user needs and APIs Dear all, One of the issues I'm exploring within my phd on digitized cultural heritage, is the difficulty within our application domain to define and "guess" the user needs regarding digitized heritage collections and the interfaces we build around them to provide access. It's relatively easy to find examples of projects that failed due to the lack of interest for user needs when developing a project, but I am specifically looking for cases where institutions really did their best to define their audience (and their needs), but where at the end they were still surprised by different types of users and uses that showed up in practice and that they didn't think about... Please drop me a line when you think of any interesting cases and people I might contact. A recent development within this discussion is to adopt and radicalize the idea that an institution can never predict user needs, and should therefore concentrate on offering data and metadata in "use-neutral" manner, in combination with an API so that external parties can develop services upon your data and users can "hack" your data and have a standard toolkit to their disposition to fulfill their specific needs. A simple but illustrative example is the widget that the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) has launched in 2005 (see http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/widget?lang=en) . Shortly after the launch of this widget, an ICT student hacked the non-public XML stream to offer an RSS feed (see http://breyten.livejournal.com/111482.html) that is now know as the "informal" museumfeed of the Rijksmuseum (thank you Saskia Scheltjens for pointing out this example!). I'm sure quite some people have an opinion on this issue, so please contact me with your remark and/or links to specific projects that I could use to illustrate theses issues within my research. Thank you! ULB - Facult? de philosophie et lettres Dpt SIC - fili?re STIC Av. F.D. Roosevelt, 50 CP 123 1050 Bruxelles B?t. DC.11.203 +32 2 650 40 80 http://homepages.ulb.ac.be/~svhoolan/ skype username: sethvanhooland _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
