About Mashup CampMASHUP CAMP What is a mashup? WHAT IS A MASHUP? Most commonly, a mashup involves the merging of multiple sources, none of which the developer had a hand in developing. In some cases, a mashup gives its visitors an opportunity to add their own data to it. An example of such an approach might be a mashup where cell phone users can plot the location of any "not" spots they find (locations where their cell phones have no signal). The result is essentially a customer-developed coverage map that could be more trustworthy than the coverage maps provided by the various wireless carriers. A great index that includes all types of mashups is maintained by John Musser at ProgrammableWeb.com.
WHAT IS MASHUP CAMP? WHAT IS THE UNCOMPUTER? Simplistically stated, the computer is largely a collection of APIs where the applications that use those APIs can be installed and subsequently run or used. Most of the APIs in an operating system do system stuff and do it well. But compared to the developer-accessible APIs on the Internet (the ones that are often included in mashups) – they have relatively little business value. For example, drawing a window from one set of x,y coordinates on the screen to another set of x,y coordinates with one line of code is useful. But in terms of the processes that most applications look to automate, such APIs are not nearly as interesting as the ones that deliver functionality right into the processes themselves – such as one line of code that returns a destination on a map, a search of the Web, or a photo. The Internet now encapsulates the most interesting, intriguing and ultimately useful (in terms of the stuff that people need in their applications) APIs, as compared to the computers and their collection of programmable APIs. The source of an API (or the variety of APIs used by a mashup) can be the server on your local area network or a machine half way across the world. We call it the "uncomputer." What really makes this the uncomputer is how democratic "the system" is. With the Internet, there is no approval process like there is for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. If you have an API you want to put on the Net, no one is going to stop you. The day you make it available, it's available to the world. It's the rough equivalent of putting a new API into the general distribution of one of the more well-known operating systems. Even better, most mashups don't need full-blown computers to run. They just need a java-enabled Web browser. Imagine if you could strip the browser off of one of today's PCs, and throw away what's left. You'd call it the "uncomputer." WHAT IS AN UNCONFERENCE? So, what are the basic implications of an unconference that uses the Open Space methodology? If you're preparing to come to a Mashup Camp, what this means is that much of the event's agenda will be determined at event-time by the attendees themselves. In contrast to events whose agendas are often determined 6-12 months in advance by people who aren't very in touch with the information needs of the potential attendees, having the attendees determine the content at event time ensures the relevance, timeliness, and vibrancy of that content. In advance of Mashup Camp, attendees are encouraged to give other participants a heads up on the discussions they'd like to propose at event-time. To publish your ideas or view those that others will be proposing, see the Discussion Ideas page of the Camp you plan to attend. To get an idea of how this worked at the very first Mashup Camp, check out the original discussion ideas page for that event and then, the final list of discussion that actually took place. WHO SHOULD COME TO MASHUP CAMP? In addition to developers, many other members of the mashup community come to Mashup Camp to network, contribute, and rub shoulders with each other. Camp is a great place for the various mashup API and technology providers to meet face-to-face with the developers they attract, as well as each other, to share ideas about how to best serve the mashup community. Mashup Camp has also proven to be fertile ground for VCs looking to invest in what Mashup Camp Founder David Berlind believes is one of the most fertile startup developer eco-system around. Mashup Camp is also great for the general mashup-curious: onlookers who might be members of the press or eventual members of the mashup community who want to come to see what it's all about. HOW DID MASHUP CAMP ORIGINATE? A quick scan of the event landscape turned up nothing in the way of such an event -- one that wasn't vendor specific (as many developer events are); one that was technical in nature where the root discussions were developer-esque in nature and worked the way up from there; and one that was community-focused and free for developers and others to attend. So, after running the idea by a few more learned people, David asked his long-time friend and event pro Doug Gold who was just exiting IDG World Expos if he'd be interested in co-organizing Mashup Camp. Doug said yes and on December 22, 2005, just 10 days after the original light bulb went off, the first Mashup Camp -- a two day event that eventually took place on February 20-21, 2006 -- was announced. |
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a.k.a "The Unconference for the Uncomputer" is an unconference-style event that's dedicated to bringing together the Internet software mashup community for a face-to-face collaborative meet-up where new relationships are formed, old relationships are nurtured, ideas are shared, multiple balls are moved forward, and innovation happens in real-time. See below for Frequently Asked Questions about mashups and Mashup Camp. 
To facilitate the use of their content and functionality, many Web site operators provide application programming interfaces (APIs) to make that content and functionality more easily accessible to developers who often use JavaScript and a technique known as AJAX to build their mashups. In addition to keeping an index of those APIs, John Musser also 