Mashup-ing for a 1st timers!

What is a mashup anyways?

You’ve probably heard the term mashup in the context of music; someone throws Jay-Z lyrics over a Radiohead song, and suddenly something old becomes new. The web version of a mashup is pretty similar except instead of rap and rock, you’ll mix map data, photos, video, news feeds, blog entries, etc.

The official definition goes something like this: A mashup is a combination of data sources to create a unified interface and experience.


How to create a mashup
There are a few things to consider before attempting to build a mashup including but not limited to knowing what a mashup is and how much of a nerd you (or your friends) are.

Come up with an idea
The first thing you’ll need, of course, is an idea - simple is good, useful is better. A good place to start is by taking a common task, like searching for real estate on Craigslist and making it easier or more efficient (by plotting Craigslist data on Google Maps to create a unified experience).

Choose data sources
Many of the most popular APIs such as Flickr and YouTube are relatively simple to use, while others, like a shopping cart service, will require a bit more fortitude to master (and rightly so). Additionally, most APIs are built to work with a variety of programming languages, but your experience will vary. A little googling will go a long way.

Popular APIs
Twitter
Amazon
del.icio.us
Flickr
YouTube

Build the mashup
Mashups can fall almost anywhere on the scale of complexity, and starting from scratch with just an idea and a blank text file may seem frightening. Fortunately, a few leading companies have decided that mashups are more than worth the effort, so they’ve taken the time to make the process of creating a mashup just a bit easier by developing Mashup Editors.

Popular Mashup Editors
Yahoo! Pipes
Dapper
QEDWiki

Mashup hosting
You’ll also need to consider where you’ll host your mashup. Server-side language support is often something you’ll need to consider when hosting. Do they support PHP, Ruby on Rails, or might you need Windows hosting?


Courtesy of:-http://mashupawards.com/