MyST Blogsite

Creates Focal Pointfor Enterprise Mashups

In this essay, we explore the nature of a new and emerging trend called

enterprise mashups

and the increased value Blogsite brings to enterprise ITgroups and knowledge workers that create and use mashups.

ROLOGUE

Mashups are very popular with the Web 2.0 crowd – these are services that typicallycombine information geo-maps with many types of data from a variety of independentinformation sources which are generally available through web services

. In the past 18months, a host of popular portals such asAuctionMapper (which locates sellers inproximity to one another on geographical maps)and Zillow.com (which provides real-estateappraisals and proximity to comparable homes)have proven the value of mashups.At the outset, it is important to realize that“mashups” [in and of themselves] are based onlightweight integration techniques that combinetwo or more data sources about a particularsubject of interest. There are many tools andprogramming techniques available to help youcreate mashups. Yahoo! Pipes, Dapper, andJackBe are just a few of many systems thatprovide web services-based data integrationtools that are designed to create mashups.However, mashups (by themselves) do not necessarily create better collaboration orproduce better decisions; it’s more information and potentially provided with greatercontext, but to truly leverage mashups, knowledge workers must do somethingpositive with them.This essay is about

utilizing

mashups; how to leverage them in ways that creategreater context and better decisions for knowledge-workers.

The W3C defines a Web service (many sources also capitalize the second word, as in WebServices) as a software system designed to support interoperable Machine to Machineinteraction over a network.

Why are mashups typically more valuable than traditional search results?

Content consumers find great value inmashups because they create greatercontext, which (in turn) produce deeperunderstanding about the informationbeing presented. However, some searchengines are beginning to exhibit mashup-like results. A9 (a9.com shown right)allows you to include related referencesto books, news, and products of a givensearch query. The added context makesit easier to understand the nature of thesearch results.It’s not difficult to imagine the positiveimpact mashups may have on knowledgemanagement initiatives in the enterprise.

TILIZING

ASHUPS

XML standards and pervasive availability of information through web services hasopened the door to information resources presented in ways that create betterunderstanding and discrete pattern recognition. However, without ways to leveragethis information easily, it’s still just more data.Blogsite provides the perfect blend of XMLagility, web services machinery, and userfunctionality to participate in the productionand consumption of enterprise mashups.Blogsite takes mashups to a higher plane of usefulness where information objects can beannotated, tagged, and organized by topic.Blogsite itself also provides the ability to createhigher-level mashups; annotations, comments,and conclusions based on low-level mashups.A fundamental requirement for leveragingmashup information is web services agility –Blogsite provides the right architecture for integrating services of many kindsespecially those that require information transformation.

LOGSITE

ASHUP

RODUCER AND

ONSUMER

Blogsite plays a unique role in enterprise mashups – it is both a

consumer

and

producer

of mashups.

Blogsite as a Mashup Consumer

The

MyST Aggregation Server™

provides the functionalities necessary to access andtransform external public and secure XML feeds

into “mashable” resources. TheAggregation Server makes many types of mashups possible including highly productivereview and annotation processes. Theexample shown to the right is aGoogle BlogSearch component thatrequires only a search query by theannotation author to integrate thismashup of the latest relevant postsfrom the public Blogosphere. TheMyST Aggregation Server™ is capableof aggregating and rendering publicand private XML information sourceswithout technical skills orprogramming.With its agile aggregation foundation,Blogsite becomes a dashboard forquickly assimilating and integratinghighly relevant external and internal content for any subject or topic of importance.The

MyST-X Scripting Engine™

goes beyond the capabilities of the MyST AggregationServer™ to provide automated import and integration machinery. In cases wheremashed up information objects are inaccessible as discrete URI’s, Blogsite can provideunique addressability and access control to these information resources. Informationobjects acquired in this fashion can participate in all aspects of the blogsiteinfrastructure including Topic Cloud™, video commenting, and outbound mashups.

Blogsite as a Mashup Producer

Every content object in Blogsite is available in three standard forms of XML; RSS,Atom, and MyST-ML. These formats are also available as public or private informationfeeds. Furthermore, all Topic Cloud™ content is available in MyST-ML. Thisarchitecture makes it possible for Blogsites that contain silos of topical knowledge --