the right
level of
detail
brianna@modernthings.org

i ♥ web apps...

(I use a lot of wikis)

...but...

they're so needy!

some web apps help users
manage data well.
the good:

the bad:

LinkedIn groups

(why can't I get all group news
in one email?)

the ugly:

this was fine when I
read my wikis every day,
but no longer.

I need... filters!

and... summaries!

what kind of problem is this?

usability

user
communication

marketing

user
marketing communication
usability

luckily, we can build
our own solution...

...because we have APIs!

an example: MediaWiki.

api.php
mediawiki.org/wiki/API

mwclient
Python library for accessing
MediaWiki API

(affordable web hosting)

mwfeeds.modernthings.org
Filter feeds for only edits that
add a new H2 heading.

So instead of THIS:

I can just have the items that
add new topics. woot!

(Pipes could probably
do it too. No API needed.)

pipes.yahoo.com

Summary example
on one of my favourite
“occasional” wikis:

so I want something like this:

Hi! Here's what happened in geekfeminism.wikia.com this week.
* 243 edits were made in the article space. Wow! That's 34 edits every day.
* 22 editors were working this week. The top 5 busiest people have been
Thayvian (131 edits), Skud (75 edits), Elky (9 edits), Hypatia (3 edits) and
78.105.109.196 (3 edits). Thanks everyone!
* 77 different articles were edited, including 25 completely brand new
pages. Woot!
Top 5 articles this week:
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/EMACS_virgins_joke
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Ubuntero_gendered_name
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_warning
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Richard_Stallman
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_women_in_Open_Source
And all the new articles:
http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Troll
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Concern_troll
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Stereotype_threat
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Defcon_comic_strip_incident
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Emasculation
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Dress_a_day_blog
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Concern_trolls
* http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Richard_Stallman

30 minutes of hacking later:

todo:
generalise,
hook into email/RSS,
better faster stronger

but really...
how easy is that?!

credits
● Title – CC-BY – jared - http://www.flickr.com/photos/generated/2056145757/
● Mouth open – CC-BY-SA – bradleygee -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/icanchangethisright/3690065403/
● The good – CC-BY – pinksherbet - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/2160471914/
● The bad – CC-BY-SA – yogi - http://www.flickr.com/photos/yogi/65938277/
● The ugly – CC-BY – isforinsects - http://www.flickr.com/photos/sethwoodworth/2714717353/
● Filter – CC-BY-SA – daveyll - http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveyll/332723930/
● Summary – CC-BY- Tom T - http://www.flickr.com/photos/scraplab/3195233814/
● Digging – CC-BY – woodleywonderworks -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/3377221745/
● Map mashup – CC-BY – caterina - http://www.flickr.com/photos/caterina/12204207/
● Surprise – CC-BY-SA – bensonkua - http://www.flickr.com/photos/bensonkua/2754312951/
● Web logos and screenshots – most are copyrighted with all rights reserved.
everything else is mine & licensed CC-BY-SA!

thanks!
brianna@
modernthings.org
identi.ca/pfctdayelise
brianna.laugher.id.au/
blog