7'7 Problematizing Technological Appropriation Web Mashups: Technological Appropriation in Web 2'0

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7.7 Problematizing Technological
AppropriationWeb Mashups Technological
Appropriation in Web 2.0

• M. Cameron Jones
• mjones2_at_uiuc.edu , http//cameronjones.com/
• Graduate School of Library and Information
  Science
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Web Mashups

• Websites which combine data and services from
  across the web
• Remixing information on the web
• Term taken (appropriated) from Hip-hop culture of
  sampling and combining music
• The Beatles White Album Jay Z Black Album
  DJ Dangermouse Gray Album

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Map-based Web Mashups

• 58 of Mashups on Programmable Web are mapping
  mashups (1,178/2,038)
• Three main API providersGoogle Maps (50 of all
  mashups)Yahoo Maps (4 of all mashups)Microsoft
  Virtual Earth (4 of all mashups)
• How are people coding and constructing Map
  Mashups?

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Memory Maps
http//www.flickr.com/photos/imnewtryme/23875409/i
n/pool-51468602_at_N00/ http//www.flickr.com/photos/
patchmonkey/25826913/in/pool-51468602_at_N00/
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HousingMaps.com
HousingMaps.com Google Maps Craigslist
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Deconstructing a Mashup
Craigslist.com
Google Maps
Javascript Code
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Appropriation of Data Services

• Selection
• Which services will you use?
• Where will the data come from?
• Manipulation
• How is the data being filtered, combined or
  altered?
• How transparent is the mashup?
• Presentation
• What is the provenance of the data?

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Crime in Chicago
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Protests in Burma
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Sex Offender Map
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Illinois State Sex Offender Registry
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Mashup Code
Javascript Code
Craigslist.com
Google Maps
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Appropriation of Source Code

• How is source code used?
• Libraries and formal code reuse?
• Copy-and-paste?
• Who is building the mashup?
• Professional programmers?
• Amateurs? (view-source days of Web 1.0)
• What is the source of source code?
• Other programmers
• Tutorials and examples (is this appropriation?)

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Student Projects
Campus Schedule Planner
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Student Projects
Champaign-Urbana Bus Route Planner
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Data Collection - Mashups

• Downloaded JavaScript source code for all mapping
  mashups listed
• Problems Dead links and inaccurate URLs
• Google Maps 494 unique mashups
• Yahoo Maps 94 unique mashups
• Microsoft Virtual Earth 17 unique mashups

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Data Collection - Snippets

• Downloaded JavaScript example snippets from API
  provider documentation.
• Google Maps 32 (1121) example snippets
• Yahoo Maps 16 example snippets
• Microsoft Virtual Earth 65 example snippets
• Microsoft Virtual Earth Yahoo Maps excluded
  from further analysis

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Data Analysis

• Clone Analysis on source code
• Identify code clones in the Mashup code
• Clone Pair a pair of source code segments that
  are structurally or syntactically similar
  (Kapser Godfrey, 2003).
• Use source code cloning to identify what code is
  being copied and how mashups are related.

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Software Clones
function load() if (GBrowserIsCompatible()
) var map new GMap2(document.getElemen
tById("map")) map.addControl(new
GSmallMapControl()) map.addControl(new
GMapTypeControl()) map.setCenter(new
GLatLng(37.4419, -122.1419), 13) //
Create our "tiny" marker icon var icon
new GIcon() icon.image
"/ridefinder/images/mm_20_red.png"
icon.shadow "/ridefinder/images/mm_20_shadow.png
" icon.iconSize new GSize(12, 20)
icon.shadowSize new GSize(22, 20)
icon.iconAnchor new GPoint(6, 20)
icon.infoWindowAnchor new GPoint(5, 1)
// Add 10 markers to the map at random
locations var bounds map.getBounds()
var southWest bounds.getSouthWest()
var northEast bounds.getNorthEast()
var lngSpan northEast.lng() - southWest.lng()

function load() if (GBrowserIsCompatible()
) var map new GMap2(document.getElemen
tById("map")) map.addControl(new
GSmallMapControl()) map.addControl(new
GMapTypeControl()) map.setCenter(new
GLatLng(37.4419, -122.1419), 13)
From gmap.doc.3.mash
From gmap.doc.15.mash
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Software Clones in Map Mashups

• Approx. 490,000 Source Lines Of Code
• 18,082 total clones found
• Frequency of clone occurrence min. 13, avg.
  764, max. 66,113
• On average, 62.9 of source code in a project is
  part of a clone
• By comparison 10-15 of large-scale software
  systems is internally cloned

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Conclusions

• Technological Appropriation in web mashups
  spans several levels of interpretation
• The appropriation of service oriented
  architectures for personal technology creation
• The appropriation of data and services to support
  personal or political agendas
• The appropriation of source code as a means of
  facilitating production

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Thank you
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Google Maps
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Yahoo! Pipes
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Yahoo! Pipes Data
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Social Networks of cloning

• 1,856 clones identified with names Copy of or
  copy
• Identify who was cloning from whom by trying to
  determine the author of the original pipe being
  cloned (an inexact measure)
• 1,579 pipe authors nodes in network
• 1,483 edges representing the cloned a pipe from
  relationship

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Social network of Pipe Cloning
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What pipes are being cloned?

• Examples (DanielRaffel, Edward H, Pasha Sadri)
• Cloned pipes

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Clusters of clones
Aggregated News Alerts
Example pipes
Apartment NearSomething del.icio.us Web Search
eBay Price Watch
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Factors determining cloning

• Activating social ties

franticindustries
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Factors determining cloning

• Cumulative Advantage Distributions (Simon, 1957
  Price, 1976)

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Factors determining cloning

• Time