Wednesday, January 17, 2007

I'm A User

Several friends over the years have asked if I can write computer code. My answer has always been, "I'm a User." A geeky reference to the movie Tron notwithstanding, it sums me up as someone who uses tools supplied by others to create my own works. I can't write a computer game, but I can use an editor to create new levels to play. I'm not able to modify something from source code, but with some sort of interface, I'm able to create my own worlds.
Through APIs, creative programmers are mashing together the best bits of different applications to create new, interesting ones, and I think it's fantastic. In many cases, the result is a more exciting use of the technology than the sources. Allowing others to modify your efforts is a great way to keep the creativity flowing, but the best part of the deal is that I get to play around with the results.
Of the mashups featured on Flickr, my favorite would have to be retrievr. A few mouse-drawn lines or squiggles sends the search engine off to retrieve images that match both the color and shape of what I sketched. Some of the results may be head-scratchers (photos of eyes seem to match any sketch!), but what a cool way to search for photos!

1 comment:

Robin said...

I couldn't agree more, Eric. The best way to get people to really use our "stuff" on the web is to provide APIs (Application Program Interfaces) so that non-programmers can "interface" with the application that has been created. I'm firmly convinced that this is the success behind Flickr and blogs - if we couldn't use our Flickr photos all over our own sites, or if we couldn't subscribe to blogs using any number of different feed readers, they wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting!