book as api (hugh mcguire)
DESCRIPTION
As books move to digital, we need to think beyond "words under glass" for ebooks. Alistair and I propose something more exiting: books connected to the network and accessed by APIs, allowing new interfaces & new thinking about what we should be able to do with books. This is the 2nd half of the Tools of Change workshop I did with Alistair Croll.TRANSCRIPT
To Do List:
1. start thinking of books as [stuff].
2. think about how we make books
3. look at examples
4. wonder: is this easy or hard?
What is a book?
My definition:
“A book is a discrete collection of text (and other media), that is designed by the
author(s) as an internally complete representation of an idea, or set of ideas;
emotion or set of emotions; and transmitted to readers in various formats.”
What’s in a book?
joy! pleasure!
knowledge!characters!
fictional people!real people!
places!concepts!footnotes!references!
lots and lots of other ...
THINGS! (and: things that we can name).
What is an API?
Terry Jones’s Definition:
“Just as a User Interface gives humans access to information, an API gives programs access to information.”
What is a (book) API’s job?
“To give other services the ability to use [the stuff] in your books, under
defined circumstances.”
An API is another mechanism
by which a publisher can do its job, which is:
“to make public” the contents of a book
(under certain commercial arrangements)
HOW:
Start with your INDEX.
What is an index’s job?
Shakespeare’s Answer:
“And in such indexes, although small pricksTo their subsequent volumes, there is seen
The baby figure of the giant massOf things to come at large.”
(Troilus and Cessida).
What does a paper index look like?
What does an ebook index look like?
That there is a link!
<a href="/chapter3/index-entry-78">Dracula</a>
<a href="/chapter4/index-entry-101">May 1, 1893</a><a href="/chapter1/index-entry-122">Munich</a><a href="/chapter9/index-entry-11">Murder</a>
<a href="/chapter10/index-entry-68">Succotash</a><a href="/chapter6/index-entry-99">Smith, Dr.</a><a href="/chapter16/index-entry-119">Sambuca</a>
<a href="/chapter15/index-entry-199">Vienna</a><a href="/chapter2/index-entry-666">Veins</a>
Jonathan Harker’s Journal:3 May. Bistritz.
Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning ...the post town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place....
Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning ... the post town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place....
Left <a id="index-entry-122">Munich</a> at 8:35 P.M., on <a id="index-entry-101">1st May</a>, arriving at <a id="index-entry-199">Vienna</a> early next morning... the post town named by <a id="index-entry-99">Count Dracula</a>, is a fairly well-known place...
What does a smart index look like?
Left <a id="index-entry-122" class=”place”>Munich</a> at 8:35 P.M., on <a id="index-entry-101" class=”date”>1st May</a>, arriving at <a id="index-entry-199" class=”place”>Vienna</a> early next morning...the post town named by <a id="index-entry-99" class=”person”>Count Dracula</a>, is a fairly well-known place...
<a href="/chapter3/index-entry-78" class=”person”>Dracula</a>
<a href="/chapter4/index-entry-101" class=”date”>May 1, 1893</a><a href="/chapter1/index-entry-122" class=”place”>Munich</a><a href="/chapter9/index-entry-11" class=”cause-of-death”>Murder</a>
<a href="/chapter10/index-entry-68" class=”food”>Succotash</a><a href="/chapter6/index-entry-99" class=”person”>Smith, Dr.</a><a href="/chapter16/index-entry-119" class=”food drink”>Sambuca</a>
<a href="/chapter15/index-entry-199" class=”place”>Vienna</a><a href="/chapter2/index-entry-666" class=”body-part”>Veins</a>
HEY!
THAT’S AN API!
THAT WAS EASY!
What can we do with a book API?
We can build different interfaces that allow readers to engage in
different ways.
The Pulp interface.
image: Gleann Ignacio
The Bits interface.
Image: Rebekah Ford
The “what stuff is mentioned in this
book” interface:
Small Demons.
The “who is reading this and what are
they saying about it” interface:
Readmill.
The“Let’s explode this book and put it back
together in a very cool way” interface:
Dracula Dissected.
bit.ly/draculadissected
IS THIS HARD?
Not if you use a good book-based
content management system.
(like PressBooks!).
Conclusions:
1. Books are made of stuff that can be
named
2. If you name stuff in your HTML (while indexing!), then we can
(easily) build new uses/interfaces for our books, such as Dracula
Dissected.
3. <shameless_plug>
If you use something like PressBooks to make your books,
making Dracula Dissected becomes easy.
</shameless_plug>
So ... What is a book?
My definition:
“A book is a discrete collection of text (and other media), that is designed by the
author(s) as an internally complete representation of an idea, or set of ideas;
emotion or set of emotions...
... with an API.”
