Book as api hugh mc guire and alistair croll - toc nyc 2013

transcript

SOLVEforINTERESTINGOTHERWISE LIFE IS DULL.

BOOK AS API

Friday, 15 February, 13

The book has always been a hack.

The butler did it.Friday, 15 February, 13

http://www.flickr.com/photos/playingwithpsp/2313754224/

Content

Fiction or non

Objective or Subjective

Vampires or Werewolves

Structure

Chronological

Alphabetical

Narrator’s choice

Format

Wood pulp

The linear narrative is just the default interface.

Format locks content and structure.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wackyvorlon/8758696/Friday, 15 February, 13

A false epiphany.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wackyvorlon/8758696/Friday, 15 February, 13

Content is in flux

Objective

Subjective

NonfictionFiction

Historical fiction

Retellings

Biographies

Speculative fiction

FranchiseProceduraldrama

FantasySelf-help

Marketingbook

Food/winebook

“How to” book

Reference

Textbook

User manual

The Difference Engine

Twilight

The Hobbit Made To Stick

Cooking For Geeks

UNIX referenceContent focus

Author/characterfocus

Beyond the story/inside the author’s mind

Accuracy, casestudies, evidence

Prove it’s wrong:Critique, debate, accuracy,

speculation, expertise, evidence.

Keep it current:Errata, revisions,

omissions, Q&A, other references

Make me special:Author access, chat,

celebrity.

Collaborate & evangelize:

Testimonials, blogs, speaking, next big idea,

create events.

We can’t beall things to all people.

The gold master and the long shadow

http://www.ibaraki-ct.ac.jp/english/manufacturing-of-Blue-Ray-Disk.jpgFriday, 15 February, 13

Naming software by year

Software went moldy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/6002142018/Friday, 15 February, 13

SaaS won because of administration.

The App Exchange

The publication date of a book

From atoms

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alicepopkorn/6846578476/

to bits.

The most popular camerain the world.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_es_anna/288880795/Friday, 15 February, 13

The most popular cameral in the world

The footnote is the original hyperlink.

According to IBM at http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/ideas/2012/05/big-data-or-too-much-information/

From 2003 back we generated 5 billion gigabytes of information.

By 2011, we were cranking out that much data every 2 days.

By 2013, we’ll be doing it every 10 minutes.

Publishers “see content as a scarcity we produce and control. Facebook and Google ... see content as an abundant resource to learn from, value and exploit.”

Jeff JarvisFriday, 15 February, 13

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41517846@N08/4290380364/

There’s more stuff about the book outside the book than within.

Grant me four things.

A book is a bundle of content, structure, and format.1.

2. The format that content takes must adapt to how it’s being used.

3. Book content shifts; “publication date” is a false epiphany.

4. Big Data means books that aren’t linked to the world are hermits.

Maybe you disagree.

Content Structure

Authoring a book means

of thereader interface

(how you’re reading it)

Creating the Designing the

(what you’rereading)

Then the future of a book is its API.

Content StructureAPI

Freedom fromthe false epiphany.

Content gets its own lifestream.

Gleam in author’s

Lousyfirstdraft

Release

Critical acclaim

Prequel

Moviescript

ScathingIMDB tell-all

Awkward fan-fiction

Celebrity boat

cruise

Misguided mobile app

Fan-made Wiki

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isadocafe/3269174348/in/photostream/

Structure gets a developer ecosystem

Those that ignore it...

Those that embrace it...

Your choice.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/susivinh/7905247944Friday, 15 February, 13

And now, from the abstract to the concrete (and the ridiculous to the sublime):

anAPI for

books@hughmcguire

pressbooks.com

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)

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="/ch3/index-78" class=”person”>Dracula</a><a href="/ch4/index-101" class=”date”>May 1, 1893</a><a href="/ch1/index-122" class=”place”>Munich</a><a href="/ch9/index-11" class=”cause-of-death”>Murder</a><a href="/ch10/index-68" class=”food”>Succotash</a><a href="/ch2/index-666" class=”body-part”>Veins</a>

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 FordFriday, 15 February, 13

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!).

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. If you use something like PressBooks to make your books, making Dracula

Dissected becomes easy.

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Questions?

@hughmcguirepressbooks.com

@acrollsolveforinteresting.com

Book as api hugh mc guire and alistair croll - toc nyc 2013

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