Interesting projects and examples
Hacking, Mashing, Gluing: Understanding Opportunistic Design
Björn Hartmann, Scott Doorley, and Scott R. Klemmer
Our first participant, W1, owns a cellphone software company. In his spare time, he developed a mashup Web site that overlays restaurant and bar information on an interactive map (see Figure 3a). Users build a graphical path from one venue to the next to plan an evening out with friends. They can also send these paths to a compatible mobile phone. This mashup combines three online services: CitySearch for entertainment reviews, Google Maps for mapping and navigation on the desktop, and Yahoo! Maps for mapping on mobile devices. A second mashup, written by participant W2, also builds on Google maps. His Web site features georeferenced weather forecasts and temperature readings, integrated displays of user-contributed webcam feeds, and weather histories. His application aggregates forecasts from more than a dozen national and regional weather data providers and locates these forecasts on a map (see Figure 3b). The site is generating enough traffi c — and ad revenue — that he is contemplating making this side project his full-time job.
