Notes on Creating the WebJay API

Am catching up a bit here as I've been on holiday and then away travelling over the last few weeks. Lucas Gonze has written up an excellent response to my XTech paper discussing the design decisions and trade-offs he encountered whilst designing the WebJay API. This was exactly the kind of discussion and sharing I … Continue reading Notes on Creating the WebJay API →

Goodbye XML-Deviant

I see Micah's latest XML-Deviant is up on XML.com this week, and its also to be the last in the series. It's a shame to see it go as I've enjoyed reading the column over the last few years. I also thoroughly enjoyed contributing to the column during my own period of XML-Deviancy. But all … Continue reading Goodbye XML-Deviant →

Lunch Hour Game

Our daily office random lunch hour discussion veered into the topic of reality TV today, namely: what new shows could we make up? Come on, you've all done it! Here are my contributions: 1950's Wife Swap: Like Wife Swap except your exchange spouse with a family from the 1950s. Hilarity ensues. Note: idea slightly limited … Continue reading Lunch Hour Game →

X-DOAP

Danny's discussion about sending FOAF URLs as HTTP headers reminded me that I'd not yet followed up on some similar proposals I'd made at XTech 2005. In particular, the use of DOAP descriptions instead of "API Keys" for RESTful interfaces. In my paper after reviewing how services supported authentication and linking of resources, I wrote: … Continue reading X-DOAP →

Lost: The Game

Watching the latest episode of Lost last night I started wonder whether anyone had already seized on the idea of turning it into a game. Maybe it's a little close to the bone given current events, but helping survivors build a working community after a plane crash or shipwreck seems like an interesting spin on … Continue reading Lost: The Game →

In a Field

After that brief flurry of activity yesterday I'm going to go quiet again for a few days. I've been clearing my desks so I can go and live in a field for a few days. If you're waiting for responses from me on anything, please be patient for a few days until I get back … Continue reading In a Field →

Smushing Algorithms

I was pleased to see Leo Sauermann recently publish a draft smushing algorithm as he's saved me a job! There's some subsequent discussion on the ESW wiki. I agree with Sauermann that this is an underspecified but significant area. I also suspect there's room for a range of algorithms optimised for different purposes. For example, … Continue reading Smushing Algorithms →

Due Diligence

According to the Wikipedia due diligence is "the effort a party makes to avoid harm to another party.". It goes on to note that within a business context: A "due diligence report" is often prepared to discover all risks and implications regarding a decision to be made. I think this concept should be embraced by … Continue reading Due Diligence →

Bookmarking Etiquette

Some notes on a brief discussion I had with Geoff yesterday about tagging behaviour, in particular: what's the etiquette involved in shared bookmarking? Geoff has previously written about social bookmarking as telltale and the advantages of brain subscriptions. He'd also recently pointed me at a New Scientist article discussing research which shows that email forwarding … Continue reading Bookmarking Etiquette →

Work At Ingenta

We're trying to recruit a software developer, if you're in the Oxford area and know some Java, Perl, XML and XSLT, then get in touch. The role involves working on a full-text processing system, involving reference extraction and supporting tools.