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Want Your API to Stick? Try Story-Telling...
This document discusses using storytelling to increase adoption of APIs. It recommends that APIs focus on enabling user activities and stories rather than just resources. Stories are more memorable and create stronger emotional connections than resource-centric APIs. Examples are given of how activities like viewing, processing, and sharing data could be represented. The document argues that future users of APIs and web apps will be non-human agents, so APIs need to publish user activities that these agents can understand and perform on behalf of users to meet their goals.
Want Your API to Stick? Try Story-Telling...
- 1. Want Your APIto Stick? Try Story-Telling... Once Upon A Time... PatCappelaere pat@cappelaere.com www.vightel.com twitter: @cappelaere 1
- 2. Rationale • Certain partsof 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
- 3. Why Do PeopleLove 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
- 4. 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
- 5. Story Corollary • BelizeGroup 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
- 6. Stories Can BeSimple... • {user} {verb} {object} {context} 6
- 7. OpenGeoSpatial Consortium ActivitiesExamples {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
- 8. Stories Are EasyTo Generate and Share • Activity Streams Standard • Facebook, MySpaces, Google Buzz, Yammer, Atlassian, Superfeedr, Windows Live, IBM, BBC, Drupal... 8
- 9. Current State ofthe API REST Level 3 Resources HTTP Verbs, Caching, Hypermedia Controls 9
- 10. Activity-Oriented Architecture -Level 4 Focus On Users Activities that Are Enabled By API 10
- 11. Activity = MOSTImportant Resource We Are Still Talking About REST...
- 12. Example: Verbs Facebook Web Apps Objects 12
- 13. 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
- 14. Why Does ThisMatter? • Because It Will Get Us To The Next Level 14
- 15. The Other Thing Tomorrow’sPrimary 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
- 16. Preparing For Level5 SIRI or Paperclip as User-Agents Web Apps Goal Activities Behavior Tree 16
- 17. Everything Becomes Connectedin OpenGraph And Searchable... Including Activities Sparql? 17
- 18. UserAgents Will CrawlThe Web Not For Web Pages But For Activities to Perform on Behalf of Users ... And Meet User Goals. 18
- 19. Activities = ActionLinks = 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
- 20. “Agile” Instructions Activity Design User Stories Implement User Activities Publish User Activities Generate User Activity Stream Repeat 20
- 21. Take Away: Story-TellingFor 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