Topic Name: Mashups, Widgets & API's (we're not talking potatoes!)

Facilitator:Annika

Participants:many

Discussion/Summary:

After some uncertainty about who was actually facilitating this topic, we got started by asking who had actually tried incorporating mashup into their library's websites and what types of mashups were being used.

As a large number of session participants weren't sure what a 'mashup' is exactly, Mary brought up Wikipedia (!) to help explain. A mashup is basically a bit of code that allows you to combine data from several sources and 'mash' it together into a single integrated tool (Kathryn used 'Mashups for Granny?' to illustrate). Looks like we are all very new to mashups!

Some suggestions for possibly useful mashups included:

• campus maps mashed with library opening hours
• events calendar mashed with campus maps

We had a bit more going with widgets. A widget is basically anything that can be embedded into an html webpage. Some of the widgets being used by either librarians or in libraries included:

• instant messaging, i.e. Meebo, which was demonstrated by ?(name please)
• YouTube for tutorials
• Flickr (and other) photo galleries to hold 'best library photo' competitions
• LibraryThing display
• Avatars
• Polls
• Blog counters
• (please add more!)

Finally, ?(name please) from the SLQ explained what an API is for those that were unfamiliar with the term.

Most agreed that some of the biggest challenges facing libraries wanting to implement 2.0 content features such as mashups and widgets are:

• Council 'roadblocks' - ranging from the 'requirement for all council websites to be branded' to 'completely clueless counsellors'.
• too much red tape and bureaucracy to get things off the ground
• lack of time
• learning curves
• staff expense - what tasks must be given up or given lower priority so staff can focus on 2.0?
• (please add more!)