This document discusses open APIs and their applications. It begins with an overview of open APIs and how they allow machines and services to communicate. It then discusses how open APIs have enabled open data, open source software, citizen journalism, and more. Several examples of applications that have been built using open APIs are provided, including Uber, IFTTT, and data visualizations. The implications of living in an API-driven world are also covered, such as how APIs can tie services together and replace human labor over time. The document concludes with advice on getting started with APIs and coding.

1. Open APIs
Concepts. Applications. Visualizations.

2. Me. Christian Dalager
Coding for fun & profit
Web. Not design.
Eksponent.com
@dalager

3. We really need to talk about... stuff
● Short story of closed and open.
● What is APIs?
● Applications
● Implications

4. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mlrs193/6015396482

5. The Internet - Open Information
Democratization of media and information
● blogging (early 00s)
● citizen journalism / knowledge
● disrupting monopolistic structures
● cracks in the walls of organizations
● whistleblowing/wikileaks

6. Open Source
Software Ecosystem
● Linux - open operating system
● Wordpress - open publishing platform
● Github - open source distribution platform

7. Open Data
“Open data is the idea that certain data
should be freely available to everyone
to use and republish as they wish,
without restrictions from copyright,
patents or other mechanisms of
control”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_data
● Wikipedia
● Creative Commons
● OpenStreetMap
● http://data.kk.dk

8. Open Hardware
Taking the “open movement” into the real
● Maker / Tinker Movement
● Arduino / Raspberry PI
● 3D Printing

9. So. Friendship across borders.

10. API Time
Understanding APIs

11. Application Programming Interface
Updating data
“Hey fitbit, update dalagers
weight to 91.3 kg”
Or “the way that machines talk to each other”
Reading information
“Hey twitter, give me a list of
@dalagers last five tweets”

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Tweet: “Introducing the Twitter
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13. Open APIs
● Setting data free
● Holes in the garden walls
● Categories
○ Embedding - Twitter widgets, like buttons
○ Datafeeds - JSON/RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
○ Full access (read/write/delete) “on behalf of” -
typically w OAuth2 or similar security.

14. Where can I find an API?
● Discover it: programmableweb.com
● Ask it: “Do you have an API?”

15. Why create an API for a service?
● Open APIs are the shoulders of digital giants
○ users will build value (for free) on top of your stuff
● participate in internet ecosystem
● help users use their own data / your data
● create ties to your API consumers
● let 3rd party mobile apps use your service

16. Applications
What people are using it for

17. Mashing it up / Mixing the openness
● Innovative services, creating new value through APIs - Uber,Mechanical Turk, IFTTT
● Visualisations - http://variable.io/ (Martin Ignac, CIID alumni), D3.js cases
● Activism - ggautoblocker, visitationszone.dk, face-to-facebook, They Rule, Please rob me, Buycott
● Journalism - dk national budget 2015, Million dollars blocks
● Websites - ie twitter widgets
● Art - seb.ly, various installations (activism list is also arty)
● Tools - gazillion examples. But Slack does A LOT.

18. On visualizations
No data, nothing to visualize.
(big) Data
Visualization
Existing data? Need to collect? How?
Sources: CSV, GeoJSON, Txt, Databases, Google Fusion
Tables
Target audience?
Tech: Excel/GoogleChart, D3.js, Graph tools, JavaScript,
Html/CSS3, Plask
Intent
Solving a problem? (reducing/communicating complexity)
Exploring unknown territory?

19. A few samples

20. wordle.net +
kea.dk content

21. Sociallytic.dk +
HipChat +
D3.js

22. D3.js +
Google spreadsheet
http://dalager.github.
io/SocialNetworkMapper/

23. Crazy dataviz
Statistician Hans Rosling
TED Talk: The Best Stats You’ve ever seen
Animated chart: Wealth & Health of Nations
Variable.io
https://vimeo.com/65343213 - Bids/Offers in asian fuel
markets
https://vimeo.com/70374059 - Simulation driven by
Vodafone network data
https://vimeo.com/42304469 - Visualization of Maersk
ships in 2011

24. Implications
Life in the algorithmic and API-driven world

25. “If the product is free,
you are the product.”
Open APIs are an investment. You are the ROI.

26. Dark side of open APIs
● There is ALWAYS a price: every external API you use will tie you up one way
or another
● As a service you also tie close bonds to your consumers.
○ They depend on you.
○ If you die they die.

27. APIs as interfaces to human labor
● Mechanical turk, TaskRabbit, Uber, Translation services
● "Jobs above the api vs jobs below the API"
● Making it hard to advance through the API layer.
● Decoupling human labor from business layer will make
the next step trivial: replacing humans with robots or
software.
http://rein.pk/replacing-middle-management-with-apis/

28. Get started

29. How to get started...
● ARGH I’m not a programmer!!!!
○ There are online services.
○ Code ‘n paste will get you far
But...

30. Everyone should learn to code
● At some point you need to get dirty hands.
● Empower yourself
● Find your pain points and start there
● JavaScript can do everything
○ button click on website, alert(“you clicked me!”)
○ unity3d scripting
○ advanced visualization stuff
○ control your Philips Hue lightbulb
○ enhance your google spreadsheet

31. On working with maps
Map visualizations are cool.
But consider if geography is
a core part of what you are
trying to communicate.
Maplinks
http://geojson.org/
http://geojson.io/ - simple map editor
http://leafletjs.com/ - styling
http://mapbox.com
https://mangomap.com/
http://openlayers.org/
Geojson data for countries:
http://geojson-maps.kyd.com.au/

32. Thank you. The end.
Contact:
christian.dalager@eksponent.com / @dalager

33. Links
37 tools for datavisualizations
- http://www.creativebloq.com/design-tools/data-visualization-712402
D3 example gallery
- https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Gallery