Day 3 at dev8D 2010

Some quick notes about the lightening talks I attended.

Archiving Tweets with Twapper Keeper

Why archive tweets?

  • Twitters search limits results by number (1500) or time, approx 7 days
  • You may want to capture an events output and ensure this data is not lost

Linked data in the web

We should integrate more, it’s not all or nothing. Where do I start:
  • model your stuff
  • identity with cool URIs
  • link your html together
  • link to machine friendly formats
  • use RDF to make your database structure available on the web
Comment from audience: Use RDFa to annotate link relationships easily.

Mendeley

  • an endnote alternative
  • last.fm for researchers papers
  • startup working with several partner universities
Future plans for an OpenAPI with various export formats
  • REST
  • oAuth
  • JSON
  • Export groups:
    • open ‘anonymised’ data due March 2010
    • user data due April 2010

Finding Nero

  • about collections/repositories
  • Culture24 API available, they want feedback about output format
  • CultureGrid – aggregator

Collaborative tools project

A talk about a new project being under taken at the University of York
  • LifeRay – portal builder
  • Network Thinking
  • JISC – People Project – people recommendations

Mistakes I have made building web applications

By Juliette Culver, Open University

  • Not dealing with character encoding from the start
  • Not establishing which web browsers you support
  • Bad choices about 3rd party code (not using them when I should have)
  • Under estimating time required for legal and acquiring domain names
  • Not dotting i’s and cross t’s
  • Admin and stats most often get the extra change requests
  • Asking permission from non techies for time for refactoring, accessibility, web security – add non as these elements are essential, a no  techie will always say no
  • Not colour contrast testing on design work
  • Putting off usability testing
  • Underestimating the problem of spam, see Mollum
  • Not protecting programming time – turn off other messenging for example/block off programming time from meetings, see makers schedule article
  • Stop expecting anyone to appreciate what you do

Comments from audience

  • Under estimating the time it takes to go from prototype to production
Visualising Data with Processing
by Ross McFarlane
  • Processing is a Java related language for graphics
  • 3D – OPENGL less buggy than the built in