To Define What A Mashup Is - Software Development Times On The Web

To Define What A Mashup Is
By Lisa L. Morgan

April 15, 2007 — Defining best practices for mashups would be a lot easier if there were a common definition for mashups in the first place. There is a general consensus that mashups are a combination of data from different sources that were not initially meant to interact with one another. However, depending on one’s perspective, the definition of a mashup may change based on who created it (a developer or nondeveloper) or whether or not it has visual elements.

“Mashups are inherently visual in nature,” said Ted Farrell, chief architect and vice president of tools and middleware at Oracle. “They bring together information from different sources that were not designed to work together.”

David Boloker, CTO of the Internet emerging technologies group at IBM, distinguishes static mashups from dynamic mashups. Static mashups are created by Web programmers; dynamic mashups are created by end users or line-of-business managers. An example of a static mashup is Housingmaps.com, he said, which combines data from Craigslist and Google maps. An example of a dynamic mashup is Chicagocrime.org, which provides hourly crime updates and maps of where crimes are occurring, among other things.

Bob Brauer, CEO, president and co-founder of StrikeIron, a provider and distributor of Web services through its StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace, is not so sure the definition of mashups changes and said the term can be used interchangeably with situational applications, composite applications and rich applications—all data-driven applications that come from multiple sources that can be repurposed.

Vendors acknowledge that mashups are being created by developers and nondevelopers alike, which creates a distinction in itself. For one thing, developers generally have a more disciplined approach to mashup creation because what they design must have some sort of shelf life to justify its expense. Conversely, nondevelopers may develop a mashup to solve a particular problem without regard to its long-term value.

“Developers tend to build applications that are more complex, which include things like exception handling,” said Brauer. “Users are quick and dirty.”

Oracle distinguishes between enterprise mashups and mashups created by consumers because “the bar is higher” for enterprise mashups, said Farrell. Consumers tend to be more concerned with interactivity and the “wow factor.” By contrast, enterprises care less about the wow factor and more about the business value of the mashup.

TOOLS TO USE
Developers and nondevelopers also may use different tools to develop mashups. Developers may have a preference for SOA, AJAX or Java, for example, or they may choose to use a mashup tool. Nondevelopers, such as line-of-business managers, are better served using a mashup tool that simply requires an understanding of data relationships. Because consumer-generated mashups are not constrained by software development policies, methods or technologies of choice, they tend to be more innovative than enterprise mashups, according to Farrell. By contrast, companies like

Boeing and GE are more concerned about SOA and the reusability of services.

If you’re creating a static mashup, you don’t need that much AJAX, [because you can use] XML data that characterizes an AJAX-type interface if you’re simply using longitude and latitude data and don’t require social aspects or syndication,” said Boloker. “Up the chain you see huge amounts of aggregation, so you need a widget library to choose from so you can go and get services.”

Mashup tools such as Adobe Systems’ Flex, IBM’s QEDWiki, Oracle’s WebCenter and StrikeIron’s SOA Express for Excel simplify and expedite the process of creating mashups. One of the biggest advantages is enabling developers and nondevelopers to combine software assets without having to know how SOA, AJAX or JavaScript actually works.

Oracle Fusion Middleware assumes a more sophisticated type of user. It includes an application development framework that enables developers to create mashups for Web pages and mobile devices, as well as collaborate in a development environment so they can bring more things together. Oracle is building in chat so developers can chat and share code as well as access wikis and forums.

As mashups become more complex, they may grow into applications, business processes or sets of services. An early example of that is Yahoo Finance, said Phil Costa, Flex product manager at Adobe. Yahoo Finance feeds stock price information into a Flash chart and plots it out over time. On the same page are news stories that are built into the UI using Java, AJAX and Flash.

Adobe recently featured a mashup that tracked a bike race. It combined real-time positioning information from a GPS device located on a bike helmet or rider’s shirt and real-time video from trucks. The result was time-synced location maps and video.

Some Oracle customers are using Oracle Fusion to place presence servers into chat, VoIP call and e-mail applications. Others are using Oracle’s CRM solutions to mash up Google or Yahoo maps with customer records so salespeople can instantly see where customers and prospects are located.

One of the main benefits of designing a mashup in the first place is reuse. Like composite applications, the creator can combine existing elements into something new. Composite applications arguably differ from mashups, mainly in terms of who creates them and how.

A THREAT TO DEVELOPERS?
Paul Raymond, director of Accuweather’s commercial division, thinks mashups threaten the role of the developer. IBM’s Boloker disagreed, saying that developers are merely unleashing access to information and giving nondevelopers the ability to create tools that will make them more productive. All nondevelopers really need to create a mashup is access to information and an understanding of data relationships. From a program management standpoint, Boloker said his group has to look at what data is required for mashups and widgets so business people can get access to the information they need.

StrikeIron’s Brauer said a lot of developers might misinterpret this coming of age as a danger because more people can create applications. What they don’t realize, he said, is that developers can control the data sources because they are centralized in IT. And because the data is centralized in IT, there is visibility into the usage of data, which is important. There may also be another benefit, he said: A business person creating a mashup could come up with a prototype that is later refined by developers.

Boloker warned that if business people are going to create mashups, one would hope they would capture the output for later or regulatory use. IBM is working on a proof of concept that will have a front end composed of different mashups. The different pieces of information will not necessarily interact, but the end result will be more analytical. For example, if an executive was looking at his company’s stock price, his actions could be analyzed in light of SEC rules and regulations prohibiting insider trading.

Mashups can also provide a quick and relatively easy means of solving usability problems and improving user experience. From a design perspective, that means designing from user interaction backward, said Adobe’s Costa.

Within the enterprise, mashups are being created using maps to show the status of assets such as cell towers or trucks, or to provide the real-time location of employees. Jim Tisch, director of knowledge management solutions and e-business at management consulting firm Robbins-Gioia, also sees knowledge management creeping into the picture, reflecting a My Profile concept.

“If you mash information around other services, the organization gets smarter,” said Tisch. “For example, a skills index and an expert index can be mashed into a profile so projects can be aligned with skills.”

Tisch also said knowledge-based mashups can help bridge the gap between Generation Y employees, who are avidly adopting Web 2.0 social tools, and the retiring Baby Boomers, who serve as mentors and have deep knowledge about best practices.

The main benefit of mashups for enterprises is speed and agility, because mashups can be created in a matter of minutes or hours. In a knowledge management context, they can be used to reuse information that would otherwise remain hidden in applications silos.

IT’S BUSINESS
Most IT shops do not yet comprehend how mashups will affect their infrastructure. Oracle’s Farrell said most tend to ask Oracle or Gartner (a market research firm) how mashups will affect them.

“The questions customers ask really depend on their size,” said IBM’s Boloker. “About a third don’t know what Web 2.0 is—it’s more than AJAX, collaboration, standards, audio/video and integrating those together.”

One of IBM’s customers is currently using its QEDWiki to combine data from dissimilar systems for trading purposes because they are interested in post-processing. Another one—a home goods dealer—is aggregating store location data, combining it with information about the hottest selling items per store and aggregating that information with information about outside weather and severe weather alerts. The store manager can track the weather hourly to determine whether or not he should pull items that would be damaged by adverse weather conditions.

Boloker also said the Environmental Protection Agency is looking at environmental protection, oil spills and pandemics in an effort to figure out whether they are moving toward a particular location. Similarly, a commodity trading broker is tracking cargo to protect it from piracy and weather.

Many do not understand what mashups can and cannot do. Adobe’s Costa said his customers have a general idea, but they may not have uncovered how they can make data available from key business systems. And they may not know which interfaces to expose until they need them.

“It’s easy to expose data sets via XML, but you need to consider the security model and confidentiality outside the company,” he said. “If you’re overly secure, you’ll quell innovation. You need to provide a customizable dashboard that allows business people to build mashups and monitor KPIs.”

He also said most people haven’t formalized the process of combining information or developed a general means of pattern recognition, which is important. Trend analysis and pattern matching are more important than the data itself, particularly given the power of visual models and the need to make adjustments based on events.

“Combining business data, graphics and analysis is very powerful,” said Costa. “If you create a product selector, it gives people a way to organize data in their own way, such as within a given price range.”

TOO EARLY FOR BEST PRACTICES
“It’s a bit early to try to figure out what best practices are at this point because we see new things every day,” said Farrell. “A lot of it might be cool or interesting, but the question is whether it makes sense [in an enterprise context].”

Boloker agreed, stating that mashups are really in the beginning stages, particularly with enterprises. Enterprise developers are willing to experiment with mashups, but they’re also considering issues like governance.

StrikeIron’s Brauer and Adobe’s Costa think it’s never too early to think in terms of best practices—but thinking seems to be the operative word at this point.

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