Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1

• 12-11-2008 10:46 AM

  Fernik Joined on 08-27-2007 Posts 32

  Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact Hi, the idea of this entry is to clarify any existing questions about the Mashup competition. The answers have been validated by the Mashup Team. I just hope it helps to activate this competition and this forum. Feel fre to ask any other and I will do my best to help you. For Round 1, you have to provide:    Master Plan/idea 1 Popfly block FAQ Can I use a Popfly block from other people? Sure, because mashups are composed of 2 or more Popfly blocks and you are required to develop one block for Round 1. You can use any other prebuilt Popfly block or develop it, if it is needed.   Can I use a block that is not from Popfly? Popfly blocks are the basic abstractions to build mashups using the Microsoft Popfly service. For instance Yahoo offers Yahoo Pipes, which is another service for building mashups and the basic abstractions are pipes and modules. So the answer will be no because Popfly does not accepts Yahoo pipes and modules as valid blocks for building mashups.   Are there any restrictions for the kind of services we can use in our Popfly blocks? No, you can use any service that exposes its API using the different web services standards protocols such as HTTP, RSS, REST, etc. Then you will have to wrap/encapsulate that API in your Popfly block and use that block to create your mashup. So Google, Yahoo, Facebook are valid. Also consider http://www.networkmashups.com.   Does my Popfly block has to be directly related to the Imagine Cup 2009 theme?  The Popfly blocks are the building blocks for mashups. Your Popfly block does not have to be related to the Imagine Cup 2009 theme, it's the composition of them in the mashup application what it has to be aligned with the Imagine Cup 2009 theme.   Can I consume mashups from other people?  No, because a mashup is an application composed of at least 2 blocks, but the mashup itself does not expose an interface neither it is a building block.   Does the mashup has to be created with the Popfly tools?  Yes, because are the only ones available that support rapid mashup development.   Does the code of the Popfly block has to be included in the Master Plan?  No, source code is not mandatory for Round 1. However you should have it available in case someone from the Mashup Team requests it for reviewing and compliance with the rules.   I have developed my Popfly block and mashup with Visual Studio, does Imagine Cup offers a hosting service to host my block and mashup? Popfly blocks are hosted at popfly.com; you just have to upload them. Popfly mashups can be placed on your Facebook page, the Windows Vista sidebar, or on your personal Web site or blog (using iframes). However you can use any of the available Microsoft services that allow you to create web pages that can host mashups such as Microsoft Office Live Small Business (http://smallbusiness.officelive.com) or third party hosting services http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/directory/default.aspx.   Resources to get started: Popfly: http://www.popfly.com Popfly Videos: http://www.popfly.com/videos Popfly Wiki: http://www.popflywiki.com Popfly FAQ: http://www.popfly.com/Overview/faq.aspx Popfly Team: http://popflyteam.spaces.live.com Popfly MSDN forum: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=434&SiteID=1 Popfly Block Building Guide: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=102098 Popfly resources on CodePlex: http://www.codeplex.com/site/search?ProjectSearchText=popfly Popfly Blogs: http://www.popfly.com/Overview/About.aspx   Fernik

  Filed under: Round 1, Roadmap

• 12-12-2008 12:34 PM

  In reply to

  Charliens Joined on 01-21-2008 Posts 35

  Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact Perfect! but i have some quesions about a content of masterplan: I thought that masterplan should refer to what we do in round one, but in rules everywhere is written "mashup" so it suggest that it should refer to mashups from round 2.. Examples: The content of the MasterPlan must include the following: § Description of the problem that the Mashup is intended to solve. // ...Mashup or popfly block is intended to solve? Mashup (which we would like to create in round 2) or popfly block (which we create in round 1)? § An Outreach Plan that describes the following: § A list of people and/or organizations that you intend to encourage to adopt the Mashup (e.g., teachers). //(as above - mashup from round 2 or popfly block from round 1?) § How you envision people and/or organizations using the Mashup (e.g., teachers will use the Mashup to teach a class). § How you will promote the Mashup to these people and/or organizations in order to realize the level and kind of adoption and use you are seeking. § Description and location (e.g., URL) of the data and services that the Mashup will consume. //(here also - mashup or popfly block? Here is written "Mashup" but I think mashup doesn't consume data and services.. popfly block does. so..? § Description and location (e.g., URL) of each parameter that the Mashup will use to call the data and services and the xml file returned. § Description and location (e.g., URL) of the Popfly Blocks that the Mashup uses.

• 12-18-2008 1:59 AM

  In reply to

  pikram Joined on 08-22-2007 Posts 2

  Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact Hi Charliens, Generally whenever there is a term "Mashup" in the rules it should be understand as your Mashup scenario, a situation in which a Mashup approach would solve given problem or address given need. Look at it that way this i.e. Mashup doesn't consume webservices itself, but in the Mashup scenario there are services that will be consumed. In the first round you should think about the scenario (described in MasterPlan) and you should create a PopFly block that fits in to you scenario. In the second round you are supposed to give the locations of mashup that use you popfly block. And those mashups can be created by you as well as by other users. And by the way there is no problem if you decide to create more than one PopFly block.   Best regards, Piotr Kramek

• 12-27-2008 4:00 PM

  In reply to

  Fernik Joined on 08-27-2007 Posts 32

  Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact I understand your situation and your are right. Sometimes the rules can be confusing, but focus on the whole vision when developing the Master Plan. By doing this, you will realize which item requested belongs truly to the Mashup as a Web 2.0 application or to its components, the Popfly blocks. To avoid any confusion my advice is that you start with a top-down approach when developing the Master Plan, I mean start from the Mashup and then zoom into the application blocks for each item of the Master plan. If you need something else, I will be around. Fernik

• 01-11-2009 9:51 PM

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  Sanduni Joined on 12-16-2008 Posts 12	Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact In guidelines as it says, do we have to create the master plan as a Powerpoint presentation. Is that mean, that we have to make some slides addressing each point in the content? Or is it only a word document (for master plan)?  Supunmali Ahangama

• 01-20-2009 12:24 AM

  In reply to

  Fernik Joined on 08-27-2007 Posts 32

  Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact Hi, You can design the Master Plan and structure it as a storyboard or document but in a PowerPoint presentation, the idea is to use the right amount of text, not too much but enough to explain the storyboard or any pictures used to address all the requirements. Consider this free PowerPoint template as a model for placing pictures/stories and text around it: http://www.toolbookdeveloper.com/products/pbb/documents/storyboard.zip. It would also be wise and fair to spend 1 slide addressing each point enumerated in the content of the Master Plan. Finally, try to get familiar with TakingItGlobal at http://www.tigweb.org. It will help you to discover opportunities and organizations to promote an envision the use of your mashup and it will provide a platform for making your mashup global.

• 03-06-2009 3:39 PM

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  Sile Joined on 02-15-2009 Posts 1	Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact 1. Can I do modificaton to the block after it is submitted in Round 1?  2. Must the 3 distinct mashups in Round 2 use the same block submitte in Round 1 , or as long as they comsists of blocks built by the team?

• 03-24-2009 12:21 AM

  In reply to

  Fernik Joined on 08-27-2007 Posts 32

  Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact Hi, If the team provided one block of course they can modify it as long as they they evolve the block, I mean that they can not drop the block submitted on Round 1 and provide a whole new unrelated block for Round 2. We should be able to trace the block evolution in relation to the Master Plan. There are some teams that provided multiple blocks(which are tightly coupled between them), in that case you can modify them too but remember that it must be in agreement with the Master Plan. And you can not change the Master Plan in order to provide a whole set of new blocks and Mashups. If the team provided one block, they have no choice than using the provided block. In the case the team provided multiple blocks, try to identify the core block o the core set of blocks and use them to provide the 3 Mashups. In this way we can trace the evolution of multiple blocks and its agreement with the Master Plan. There is nothing against developing custom extra blocks, but remember less is more. I mean that if you can keep it to one Popfly block or a core set that is in agreement with the Master Plan, then fine. Avoid developing extra blocks. A good sign of the popularity of the Mashups is that the Popfly block is well architected, easy to use and compose with existing Popfly blocks.

• 04-03-2009 9:30 PM

  In reply to

  Sanduni Joined on 12-16-2008 Posts 12	Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact Here, is it possible to add new operations to the existing popfly block created in round1 and use them too? Supunmali Ahangama

• 04-09-2009 10:54 PM

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  Fernik Joined on 08-27-2007 Posts 32	Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact  Sure, as long as you respect the Master Plan.

• 06-21-2009 1:02 AM

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  markjak11 Joined on 06-21-2009 Posts 1	Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact   Normal 0 Thanks for clearing that up. As I mentioned, I’m not familiar with your firm or services. It sounds like you’re on the up and up. I hope you find the folks that are tarninshing your good name through strong arm tactics Normal 0 http://intervarsitynw.org

• 07-08-2009 8:14 PM

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  rafi9o1 Joined on 07-08-2009 Posts 3	Re: Mashup Competition Roadmap for Round 1 Reply Contact its great.No, source code is not mandatory for Round 1. However you should have it available in case someone from the Mashup Team requests it for reviewing and compliance with the rules.