May 2009 Archives

[full version of article A Web Services Taxonomy (PDF 84k)]

A Web Service, according to a standard definition, is "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network." 1

To put it another way, a Web Service is some useful service offered (usually) on the Internet, designed as a sort of building block you can use any way you want.

So, for example, Google Maps, a free service that dynamically draws maps of any location and locates addresses, has been used by thousands of people to build new services such as crime-report maps and real-estate listing tools,

Another way to wrap your mind around Web Services is to consider a range of well-known ones and what they do. That's what the chart below does, with services such as Paypal, Google, Twitter, and Sabre, the airline-reservations system. (click on chart to see full-size):

This chart represents a taxonomy, or classification, of Web Services, constructed by characterizing all services according to two factors:

1. Data quality: from simple/commodity to complex/unique


2. Transaction level: from basic lookup to real-world transaction.

Based on this, I suggest that the Services with the most usage, customer value, and/or revenues typically have more complex/unique data, and/or are more transactional.

See also the above chart in full size, or the full article (PDF 84k).

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Mashathon and followed us on tweets. The library press noticed, too. It is hard to believe it has already been a week since we disbanded--I think I left half my heart (and 152 photos) in Amsterdam. Certainly, I came home brimming with interesting ideas and a renewed curiosity about how OCLC can use APIs and Web services to improve the information-gathering experience for researchers.

A few people have asked what the Mashathon was for. Besides just being fun to get together, the goal of the event is twofold: one is to raise awareness of the WorldCat Search API and related Web Services freely available from OCLC and other library-related organizations. The equally important second goal is to help developers connect with fellow developers and other technology-minded thinkers to work on shared solutions to similar situations or challenges within their respective settings. We found the face-to-face interaction really helpful--even as online collaboration environments continue to improve. There are still reasons for Web-oriented people to come together: powerful connections happen that we all benefit from.

In the end, there were 9 new tools/apps/ideas presented. I will share them below in the order they were presented, with links to the YouTube videos. I know there were a whole lot more apps still being worked on that weren't presented, too. So if you didn't present yet, let me know when you're ready to share. Add your project to the sample apps page, so everyone can build on your good ideas:

Also available at a WorldCat Library
A new sidebar in the Wageningen UR Library Catalogue that uses the WorldCat Search API and the WorldCat Registry OpenURL Gateway to display a location-sensitive listing for other WorldCat libraries who also hold the item. See it in action in the development space.
Peter van Boheeme, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands

AdLib Library Gateway to WorldCat
A Web service built into the AdLib library system that uses the Worldcat Search API to add a WorldCat query component to the service, as well as an SRU-based name/author search that utilizes WorldCat Identities.
Monika Lechner and Bert Degenhart Drenth, AdLib Information Systems Maarssen, Netherlands

WorldCat Identities widgets
4 small blocks of functionality that use the WorldCat Search API and WorldCat Identities/VIAF to build on each other to turn a Dutch catalog ppn number into an OCLC number, return author names, citations and related works (subject headings) in XML and JSON. The "catalog group" contributors included:
Derk-Jan Fiel, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Niels Molenaar, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Andreas Neumann, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Germany
Eric de Ruijter, IISG, Amsterdam, Netherlands
René Exterkate, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Rick Gouw, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Sjoerd Siebinga, Europeana.eu, The Hague, Netherlands
Theo van Veen, National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) The Hague, Netherlands
Martin Zwaal, OCLC, Leiden, Netherlands
Bruce Washburn, OCLC, San Mateo, CA USA

WorldCat on App Engine
An app that gets the WorldCat Search API running on Google App Engine to solve cross-server/cross-domain security issues. Reuses a previous Hackathon attendee's WorldCat Python module and outputs JSON results.
Etienne Posthumus, TU Delft Library, Amsterdam, Netherlands

WorldCat Identities Photos
A true mash-up of WorldCat Identities with Wikipedia photos, to help a user with quality name issues in the Credo Reference Service.
Pete Ciuffetti, Credo Reference Service, Boston, MA USA

SOLR + SRU implementation connections
A realization that face-to-face connections are still very important in a predominantly online world, this project compared notes on how to open up indexes to the world.
Lucien van Wouw, IISG, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Hicham El Kasmi, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
André Hagenbruch, University Library Bochum, Bochum, Germany

xISSN enhancement
An addition to the xISSN Web service that will now include the RSS feed of the journal data, using the JISC national authority file information from the Journal Table of Contents Service.
Xiaoming Liu, OCLC, Bloomfield, NJ, USA

WorldCat World Tour
An app that finds artists' albums through the WorldCat Search API and uses a UK-based streaming music service to play the musical tracks online.
Julian Cheal, UKOLN, Bath, UK

MetaLib Search for WorldCat
A component that uses the WorldCat Search API and employs SRU updating.
Bart Alewijnse, Groningen University Library, Groningen, Netherlands
André Keyzer, Groningen University Library, Groningen, Netherlands
(They didn't actually present, but Bart stayed late to finish it!)

More videos:

• Peter van Boheeme on what else he'd like to see with the OpenURL Gateway.


• Jerry de Vries explains what he's working on.


• Hicham El Kasmi used a Yahoo Pipes app to add data to his Institutional Repository.


• Thierry Vebr was up late, working on some code.


• Sjoerd Siebinga describes his Maven project.


• Dennis Nicholson explains why he came to the Mashathon.


• Ralph LeVan gives his definition of what a Web Service API is.

See all the Mashathon YouTube videos.

We're already talking about the next mashathon and where it should be held. In the meantime, keep working on that creative reuse for WorldCat or OCLC data.

We're getting ready for the WorldCat Mashathon today. Yesterday I was traveling, and then Ralph M. from the Leiden office and I started in on the details. Oh you know, things like printing name tags and creating networking sheets so people can know who else works in Python, who prefers Java...things like that.

Here's a photo of where we'll be. It's a former cocoa warehouse, but now home to the International Institute for Social History. A beautiful setting and one to surely inspire a few creative innovations the next two days.

One interesting note: the IISH even has a "floating garden" that is part of their collection. it seems that an artist built an island out of styrofoam, planted it with plants and even built some structures on it.

I'm off to get my bearings on the rest of Amsterdam. We'll be tweeting and posting updates here during the event, so if you weren't able to come--it will be almost as good as be