Syndication and Integration

Abstract

In the new era of Web 2.0 development, developing an island of functionality that users access from a web browser is no longer enough. Web sites are a main focus and a starting point but no longer the only means of accessing the information. Mashups are one example of an alternative way to access and use data from a web site; a mashup takes information from many different sources and combines it in ways that were not considered by the original developer. Google Maps is a great example of this technology. It is remarkably easy to take an API or RSS feed and combine it with a Google Map to provide a geographical representation of what was originally purely textual information. Further still, web sites have sprung up that are themselves mashups. The bulk of their functionality is simply aggregated content from other sites, with an overlay of social networking functionality to bring it all together.