One of the issues that Ramsey points out is critical:
"My worry is that there are many small nonprofit
techies at smaller nonprofits who don't know what an API
is, much less how to interface with it."
The folks in larger organizations should be comfortable
building and releasing API tools... a techie in a smalll
organization might not know what an API is, but can download
a software tool that automatically geo-codes all the
addresses in their database so they can be displayed on
Google Maps.
I would hope that as larger organizations build tools based
on APIs, they maker those tools avaliable... most vendors'
incentives center aroung creating more consulting revenue
rather than less, so they aren't going to put up a free
download of API tools or even advertise their avaliability.
This is yet another reason we build CiviCRM... the
incentives are different. There is no active barrier to
sharing your innovations using the CiviCRM API, aside from
going to our wiki and pasting in your code.
www.civicrm.org
david
-----original message-----
>>My worry is that there are many small nonprofit
techies at smaller nonprofits who don't know what an API
is, much less how to interface with it. I hope that these
folks aren't left behind in the effort for open and easily
data. Though we don't make much use of ASP's/Web Services
providers now, I'll certainly do my part to advocate for
open API's when we do.>>
=========================================
The Information Systems Forum is an opt-in, low-traffic,
flame-free distribution list for discussions of information
technology for nonprofit organizations.
To post a message, prepare a regular email and send it to
Information_Systems_Forum@yahoogroups.com
To join the Information Systems Forum, send a blank email to
Information_Systems_Forum-SUBSCRIBE@yahoogroups.com
To leave the Information System Forum, send a blank email to
Information_Systems_Forum-UNSUBSCRIBE@yahoogroups.com .
Please note that there may be a lag (of hours or days)
between the moment that you send the command and the moment
that you stop receiving messages from this group. Your list
administrator apologizes for this flaw in the YahooGroups
configuration, but has been unable to shorten the lag from
her end of things.
To send a message to the list administrator (Deborah), email
it to deborah_elizabeth_finn post.harvard.edu .
To view the message archive, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Information_Systems_Forum
To participate in the unmoderated version of this email
distribution list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Information_Sy
stems_Forum_UNMODERATED/
To view a map of the group's membership, go to http://
www.frappr.com/informationsystemsforum
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Information_Systems_Forum/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Information_Systems_Forum-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.c
om/info/terms/
|