[Campaigns-l] looking at ajax technology

[Jens Holze]

Hi everybody!

There were several questions for clarification on the AJAX issue so I'd like
to provide some (as far as I'm familiar with it):

AJAX means Asychronous JavaScript And XML and is pretty much a team-up of
two pretty known techniques (JavaScript and XML) with a rather new thing
called XMLHttpRequest which makes data loadable in background without
reloading the page as you already pointed out.
This is not actually something done on the side of the server -Apache has
nothing to do with it- but rather by the client (browser that needs
javascript and support for XMLHttpRequest) but all modern browsers (IE6,
Firefox since 1.0.5, Flock, Opera and Safari) support that kind of
functionality. There are of course problems with older browsers but the
technology has been in development pretty much since 1998 or so and what is
available now can be considered a standard that will spread pretty quickly.
Actually it already does.

Google Maps (such as most Web 2.0 services) offers an API (Application
Programming Interface) to be used to encorporate the service into new
contexts and I think since places on the map are saved in an xml-based
format (KML) the data link between the services need to make use of that.
I've actually not tried to do something like this yet but based on the
number of mashups already available it can't be too complicated.

With a standardized data structure it should be quite easy to create a
mashup as described by Janet (there are actually several such projects for
the Wikipedia like http://www.placeopedia.com/ and http://www.pediax.de/)
but the problem is to connect articles with certain coordinates in a smart
way which is why some work is needed to work that out. I agree that could be
interesting for the MediaWiki developers to think about. There's pretty much
going on in the Open Source Community with AJAX atm so I believe it's really
a matter of time for something to evolve.

I hope I could provide a little insight. Feel free to ask, I'll try to
answer.

Jens

2006/11/13, YYK H <y2keynes at gmail.com>:
>
> Hi Janet,
>
> I think someone tried to create a mesh up for US electoral district
> using google map.  I am not sure what happened to that project.
>
> I absolutely agree that AJAX should have a role in this project...
> basically to allow more complex interaction between the site and its
> users.  Two issues come to mind: 1) compatibility with older browser
> and 2) can we "wiki-fy" the production of AJAX project.  While there's
> a lot of buzz about web 2.0, I am not sure how well it works with
> older generation computer/browser.  Actually, I don't have the stats
> on visitors' browser version to tell if that should be a concern.  As
> for wikifying ajax production... my understanding is that the first A
> is Apache... so I am assuming there are some configuration needed on
> the server side?  or is it as simple as having a .js and .css file?
> Sorry, I am not too familiar with the back side of ajax.  Can someone
> clearify?
>
> Kenny
>
> On 11/13/06, Janet Hawtin <lucychili at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Just to put an extra twist in the tail, I went to an IBM event tonight
> > where they were demonstrating ajax based technologies (similar to the
> > way that googlemail works, interactive material which doesnt require a
> > reload of the page.
> >
> > One of the key examples was a wiki which included 'mashup' information
> from
> > googlemaps plus realestate info, or mapping plus dynamic weather
> > update for that area as a feed of gifs. Keep an eye out for the web 2
> > demo by IBM if it comes your way.
> >
> > This was one of the example sites http://dojotoolkit.org/
> > IBM have someone working with this team to contribute
> internationalisation
> > and accessibility. They said they are expecting something people can
> > try out to be available in a month.
> >
> > Wondered if campaign wiki could be a nice showcase project for that
> > kind of thing. Overlays of geographic data and population information
> > and voting or maps relating to specific local topics which connect to
> > images of specific things, places or people which are important.
> > Tables, maps graphs.
> >
> > Drawbacks for campaignwiki?
> >
> > I'm guessing the complexity could make it possible to lose the
> > dialogue with each other and end up saturated in information from one
> > perspective. At least this might make it possible to have better
> > information from one perspective.
> >
> > The other is that the text based wiki is workable with low bandwidth
> > and means we have to be able to communicate clearly with text.
> >
> > Also dont know about how the $ factor would work as IBM were talking
> > about it as a service. I'll leave that up to more technically savvy
> > persons than me to comment.
> >
> > Just thought that this might be an interesting pilot for the technology.
> > Would be fun to test, not sure if it is feasible =)
> >
> > Janet
> > _______________________________________________
> > Campaigns-l mailing list
> > Campaigns-l at wikia.com
> > http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/campaigns-l
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Campaigns-l mailing list
> Campaigns-l at wikia.com
> http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/campaigns-l
>



-- 
"Wars not make one great" - Master Yoda
yodahome at gmail.com - https://yodahome.de - ICQ: 252623701
QOTM: "A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money." - W. C. Fields,
amerikanischer Comedian

my blog - http://yodahome.de/blog
my links - http://del.icio.us/yodahome
my visuals - http://yodahome.deviantart.com -
http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/yodahome
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.wikia.com/pipermail/campaigns-l/attachments/20061115/2955c415/attachment.html