DiRT (Digital Research Tools) has a new home! Please visit Bamboo DiRT to explore this excellent collection of research tools.

Definition: 

A mashup is "a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool; an example is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source" (Wikipedia).  For a terrific example of a mashup, see EveryBlock Chicago. Mashup editors allow you to create a mashup without being a programming whiz (although some technical knowledge is useful).

Tools:

• Mozilla Ubiquity: "a Mozilla Labs experiment into connecting the Web with language in an attempt to find new user interfaces that could make it possible for everyone to do common Web tasks more quickly and easily." Currently requires some programming knowledge.  (Free; beta, cross-platform)
• SEASR: tools & frameworks for sharing data and research (including mashups) in virtual work environments (Free; open source, Windows/Mac/Linux)
• Yahoo! Pipes: a "powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web" (Free, web-based)

Resources:

• Brian Lamb, "Dr. Mashup; or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix," Educause Review, vol. 42, no. 4 (July/August 2007): 12–25

  Mashup Awards

• Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for a Literary History (Google Books), Franco Moretti. Published 2005.

• Programmable Web

See Also: