Widgets and Mashups for Personal andInstitutional Technologies

Scott WilsonUniversity of Bolton, UK

Scott Wilson

• Researcher at the Institute for EducationalCybernetics at the University of Bolton

• Assistant Director of Centre for EducationalTechnology and Interoperability Standards (CETIS)

• Member of the W3C Web Applications WorkingGroup, contributes to the W3C Widgets family ofspecifications

• Committer on the Apache (incubating) projectWookie which implements the specifications

• Currently Scott works on two EU-funded projects,OMELETTE and iTEC, both of which are using W3Cwidget technologies to create flexible mashups

Widgets and Mashups forPersonal and InstitutionalTechnologies

Suddenly,lots of devices

Not just devices, either, gizmosA Gizmo, unlike a Machine or a Product, is not efficient. A Gizmo has bizarre,baroque, and even crazy amounts of functionality … It's a cellphone, a webbrowser, an SMS platform, an MMS platform, a really bad camera, and anabysmal typewriter, plus a notepad, a sketchpad, a calendar, a diary, a clock, amusic player, and an education system with its own onboard tutorial that nobodyever reads. Plus I can plug extra, even more complicated stuff into it, if I takea notion. It's not a Machine or a Product, because it's not a stand-alone device. Itis a platform, a playground for other developers. It's a dessert topping, andit's a floor wax.

- Bruce Sterling

Personal Technology In The Age ofGizmos

• Everything is internet-connected, has a browser, a GPS,accelerometer, compass, multi-touch screen,whatever…

• But for display can have anything from a 320x240 pixelfeature-phone screen to a 50” plasma screen

• And it can run Apple IOS, Android, Bada, WebOS,Windows, Nintendo, Google TV, YouView, QT,Blackberry OS, Linux…

Complexity

all these devices, operating systems and feature sets is

an amazing opportunity for

innovation…

… and a huge headache for

anyone involved in IT for

Institutions

Web on Everything

• W3C Standardising core aspects of the open webplatform– Widgets

– Device APIs

– HTML5

– Device Independence and Content Adaptation

– Multimodal Access

– Web TV

HTML

JavaScript

CSS

config.xml

mywidget.wgtIcon.png

W3C Widgets

W3C Widget Applications

Desktop Widgets Website Gadgets Mobile Apps

TV AppsInstallable Web Apps Car Apps

Console Apps PortletsBrowser Extensions

“W3C Widgets are better than websitesbecause they download only the data;and not the core files.”

“Widgets are better than app systemsbecause you don't have to write 4, 5, or10 of them. Just the one is enough.”

“And hundreds of thousands of webdevelopers already know how to createwidgets.It's just HTML/CSS/JavaScript,after all.”

- Peter Paul Koch

JavaScript

Device APIs: Adding DeviceCapabilities to the Web

• Contacts

• Calendar

• Battery status

• Media Capture (mic,camera…)

• Messaging (SMS,MMS…)

• Network Information(roaming…)

• Systems info (CPU…)

• Permissions

• Gallery

• Launcher

• Tasks

• Privacy

Device APIsJavaScript

navigator.device.capture.captureImage(success,error, { limit:1 });

HTML

<inputtype="file"accept="image/*" id="capture">

Open Web Application Stacks

• WAC: Widgets + DAP + Mobile = mobile open webapplications

• CME: Widgets + Media = enhanced music content

• Web TV: Widgets + DAP + TV = open TV web applications

• Opera: Widgets + Extensions = browser extensions

• Omelette: Widgets + Telco APIs = telco mashups

Why is all of this interesting?

• Simple, embeddable, personalized, contextual…

• Scenarios:– Cross-device applications

– Multi-device applications

– VLE -> MUPPLE

Cross-Device Apps

Multi-Device

FieldDataCapture

Reading and reviewing Writing

Planning and monitoring

VLE - MUPPLE

The Social Life of Widgets

• Widgets living with other Widgets

• Widgets talking to other Widgets

• People talking about Widgets

• Institutions giving people Widgets

• People giving each other Widgets

Widgets LivingWith OtherWidgets

Widgets TalkingTo Widgets(*potentially. These sites don’t use them, but areexamples of what you might do)

People Talking About Widgets

Top 5 apps that helpyou find more andbetter apps

Institutions Giving People Widgets

People Giving Each Other Widgets

Flatpack

The Road Ahead

Now and next• DAP WG commodifying today’s device capabilities• HTML5 everywhere• Inter-widget mashups still experimental• Widgets standardised across more platforms• Platform wars: native vs web• “Appification” of existing platforms: whiteboards, TV• VLEs with an app• BasicLTI and widgets• Widgets for core institutional (admin) services• Cross-device applications using adaptation techniques• Bump-sharing apps between mobiles

2-5 Years

• More device form factors, but all fundamentally basedon web technologies

• New hardware capabilities for devices exposed to webapplications then commodified by W3C

• VLEs made of widgets; mashups of widgets a commonway to build applications

• Multi-device applications exposing fundamentallydifferent collaborating capabilities (e.g. “second screen”technology)

• Social App Sharing - by twitter, email, buttons…• Federated social web?

Challenges and Opportunities

• From VLE to PLE … or from PLE to VLE?• Widgets as social objects - sharing, discovering, co-

creating• Widgets talking to platforms• Balancing act between adopting standards for the long

term, and delivering functionality now• Designing for “any device”• Making personal mash-up building easy, fun and

worthwhile

Thanks

scottbw@apache.org

scott.bradley.wilson@gmail.com

@scottbw

http://scottbw.wordpress.com