A teacher in one of my buildings approached me one time and said, “Aren’t you working yourself out of a job?”
“That,” I said, “is similar to a mother saying that she’s finished housework and can take a rest.”
In the three years as a TRT, my list of things that I want to learn is building (I still am trying to learn Sony Vegas) weekly and I want to learn and teach them all. Some things I categoize under the Someday category, and there are things that come across my desk that are Wow–learn now! I recently learned about another category that goes on the list of more important things to learn and do (yes–I know: that list is HUGE).
What is a Mashup (besides sounding weird)? The term comes from hip-hop terminology of producing a new song by combing two or more songs. This term has been borrowed for a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool (thanks, Wiki). One example might be if I would put a Google Maps location on a website of Civil War battle sites that you can visit.
The distinictiveness of a Mashup is that you can act like an HTML programmer without having to be one. You now have a way of making a website or add a feature, like a mashup, to existing blogs or webpages. A Mashup is a web application that combines content, such as pictures and videos for research from more than one site. For the techies out there, a Mashup is sourced from another party via a public interface, or API.
However, if you’re like me, words will go in one ear and out the other unless I see one in action. At our department meeting on Friday, we were introduced to Microsoft Popfly, and everyone in that room was astounded and immediately hooked (a review can be found on C/Net News). After reading the aforementioned article, why not create an account and go in and discover what you can do? Website: Microsoft Popfly
