Alia2003

Web services:Google, Amazon & weblogs: 

Web services: Google, Amazon & weblogs James Robertson Step Two Designs (jamesr@steptwo.com.au)

What are web services?: 

What are web services? Web services are a way of communicating between systems using: Existing web infrastructure (HTTP) XML There are many different components under the web services banner They are driven by open standards with interoperability being the main goal

Introducing web services technologies: 

Introducing web services technologies http://www.w3.org/2002/ws/ SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol): the underlying messaging system for communicating between systems using XML XML-RPC: the earlier, and simpler, version of SOAP UDDI (Universal Description,Discovery & Integration): provides a “white pages” for web services functionality (who does what, where & how)

What’s the fuss all about?: 

What’s the fuss all about? Web services are just another programming language, nothing to get excited about They provide an truly open platform, allowing systems to easily talk to each other It is the use of web services that is proving very interesting Surprising new ways of managing and communicating information are surfacing

Google API: 

Google API http://www.google.com/apis/ In mid-2001, Google released a SOAP-based API for accessing its services This has spawned many interesting projects: Googlism: “will find out what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything!” Googlert: “experimental free service which keeps you updated on what the web is saying about you, your products or your interests.”

Googlism: 

Googlism

Amazon Web Services: 

Amazon Web Services Following Google’s lead, Amazon released an API for accessing its book information This has also generated interesting results: Book Watch: combines both APIs to list the most-talked about books in the online community Amazon Light: a stripped-down Amazon search interface Amazon Search in Flash: a really very different interface to Amazon The Name Game: a race against the clock to see how well you know your actors and authors

Book Watch: 

Book Watch

Weblogs and RSS: 

Weblogs and RSS Weblogs are an online diaries, written by thousands of people across the globe Each weblog provides a news feed in RSS (Really Simple Syndication) format Major news sites also provide RSS feeds News aggregators allow dozens of different news sources to be easily tracked There are many other interesting ways that RSS feeds are being used

The future of news?: 

The future of news? Weblogs and syndication create an entirely different ‘media network’ This operates in a peer-to-peer way, and is not controlled by the large news organisations The syndication is very efficient Like the other web services, it is generating surprising systems and behaviours

www.daypop.com: 

www.daypop.com

Interesting weblogs: 

Interesting weblogs As a librarian, you should be reading weblogs You should probably have a weblog of your own Interesting weblogs for librarians: Catalogablog http://www.catalogablog.blogspot.com/ The Shifted Librarian http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/ library news daily http://www.lights.com/scott/

Where do librarians fit in?: 

Where do librarians fit in? Web Services provide innovative new ways of accessing and manipulating information Librarians have the skills needed to put these new approaches to work: Using web services to meet knowledge needs Assisting in the design of the next generation of tools Go forth and research!

Questions?: 

Questions? James Robertson jamesr@steptwo.com.au www.steptwo.com.au Many articles on information management Column Two www.steptwo.com.au/columntwo My weblog on content management, knowledge management, IA & usability