Want Your API to Stick? Try Story-Telling...

Want Your API to Stick?
Try Story-Telling...
Once Upon A Time...
PatCappelaere
pat@cappelaere.com
www.vightel.com
twitter: @cappelaere

1

Rationale
• Certain parts of the monkey’s brains are activated both when the monkeys perform
an action and when they witness other monkeys performing that same action.

• We live through the actions and stories of others. Good stories are more memorable

• An API that helps users tell stories will create stronger emotional relevance than
resource-centric API

Your API needs to enable users to tell GREAT Stories

This will increases the likelihood that it will be accepted and adopted.

2

Why Do People Love Facebook?

• Gives People An Opportunity To Tell Great Stories (with Pictures)
• Gives People An Opportunity To Read Other People’s Good And Bad Stories
(with Pictures)

3

Emil’s Story
http://www.slideshare.net/cappelaere/cathalac-story-based-on-actual-data

• Emil Cherrington, CATHALAC (Panama) also on Facebook Belize Group

• Emil tasked EO1 satellite

• Emil downloaded observation

• Emil processed imagery

• Emil shared imagery

Story Went Viral... Environment Ministry Was Alerted...
Spanish Company Was Fined For Breaking The Law
4

Story Corollary

• Belize Group Users Read Emil’s Story

• They Now Know They Can Duplicate Emil’s Activities During a Disaster

• They Shared it With Their Friends

• Now They Are Empowered...

5

Stories Can Be Simple...

• {user} {verb} {object} {context}

6

OpenGeoSpatial Consortium Activities Examples

{user | system} {acquired} {observation}

{user} {searches for} {observations | products | maps | features | …}

{user} {is viewing} {an observation | map | product | …}

{user} {likes} {observation}

{user} {processed} {observation}

{user} {executed} {algorithm} {observation}

{user} {downloaded} {observations | products | map layer}

{user} {ordered} {imagery product}

{user} {requested feasibility) {location}

{user} {requested imaging) {location}

{user} {collaborates with} {user}
7

Stories Are Easy To Generate and Share

• Activity Streams Standard
• Facebook, MySpaces, Google Buzz, Yammer,
Atlassian, Superfeedr, Windows Live, IBM,
BBC, Drupal...

8

Current State of the API

REST
Level 3
Resources
HTTP Verbs, Caching,
Hypermedia Controls

9

Activity-Oriented Architecture - Level 4

Focus On Users Activities that Are Enabled By API 10

Activity = MOST Important Resource

We Are Still Talking About REST...

Example: Verbs
Facebook Web
Apps

Objects

12

And Linked Data

<head prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns# fb: http://ogp.me/ns/fb#
radarsat: http://ogp.me/ns/fb/radarsat#">

<meta property="fb:app_id" content="174581479345038" />
<meta property="og:type" content="radarsat:floodmap" />
<meta property="og:url" content="http://radartsat.geobliki.com/URLhere" />
<meta property="og:title" content="My Floodmap" />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://fbcdn.net/images/devsite/img.png" />

13

Why Does This Matter?

• Because It Will Get Us To The Next Level

14

The Other Thing

Tomorrow’s Primary Users
of Your Web Site Will Not
Be Humans

Forget about a web page interface...
User-agents will be primary users of your app... 15

Preparing For Level 5

SIRI or Paperclip as User-Agents
Web Apps

Goal Activities

Behavior Tree
16

Everything Becomes Connected in OpenGraph

And Searchable... Including Activities Sparql? 17

UserAgents Will Crawl The Web

Not For Web Pages But For Activities to Perform on Behalf of Users

... And Meet User Goals.

18

Activities = Action Links = Hypermedia Controls

• Can Be Represented in JSON

• SIREN

• HAL

• JSON-Schema / Hyper Meta-Schema

• Can Be Described in API Discovery Document

Not a Foreign Concept
19

“Agile” Instructions
Activity

Design User Stories

Implement User Activities

Publish User Activities

Generate User Activity Stream
Repeat

20

Take Away: Story-Telling For Your API

Linked Data in Web Apps

For Tomorrow’s Users (Not Human)

Using Activities and Action Links Within a Semantic Web

and Social Networks

Thank You
YOUR API Pat Cappelaere
pat@cappelaere.com
http://www.vightel.com

21

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