As books move to digital, we need to think beyond "words under glass" for ebooks. Alistair and I propose something more exiting: books connected to the network and accessed by APIs, allowing new interfaces & new thinking about what we should be able to do with books. This is the 2nd half of the Tools of Change workshop I did with Alistair Croll.

1. an
API
for
books
@hughmcguire
pressbooks.com

2. To Do List:
1. start thinking of books as [stuff].
2. think about how we make books
3. look at examples
4. wonder: is this easy or hard?

3. What is a book?

4. My definition:
“A book is a discrete collection of text (and
other media), that is designed by the
author(s) as an internally complete
representation of an idea, or set of ideas;
emotion or set of emotions; and
transmitted to readers in various formats.”

5. What’s in a book?

6. joy!
pleasure!
knowledge!
characters!
fictional people!
real people!
places!
concepts!
footnotes!
references!
lots and lots of other ...

7. THINGS!
(and: things that we can name).

8. What is an API?

9. Terry Jones’s Definition:
“Just as a User Interface gives humans
access to information, an API gives
programs access to information.”

10. What is a (book) API’s job?

11. “To give other services the ability to
use [the stuff] in your books, under
defined circumstances.”

12. An API is
another mechanism
by which a publisher can do its
job, which is:
“to make public”
the contents of a book
(under certain commercial
arrangements)

13. HOW:

14. Start with your
INDEX.

15. What is an index’s job?

16. Shakespeare’s Answer:
“And in such indexes, although small pricks
To their subsequent volumes, there is seen
The baby figure of the giant mass
Of things to come at large.”
(Troilus and Cessida).

17. What does a paper index look like?

19. What does an ebook index look like?

21. That there is a link!

22. <a href="/chapter3/index-entry-78">Dracula</a>
<a href="/chapter4/index-entry-101">May 1, 1893</a>
<a href="/chapter1/index-entry-122">Munich</a>
<a href="/chapter9/index-entry-11">Murder</a>
<a href="/chapter10/index-entry-68">Succotash</a>
<a href="/chapter6/index-entry-99">Smith, Dr.</a>
<a href="/chapter16/index-entry-119">Sambuca</a>
<a href="/chapter15/index-entry-199">Vienna</a>
<a href="/chapter2/index-entry-666">Veins</a>

23. Jonathan Harker’s Journal:
3 May. Bistritz.
Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May,
arriving at Vienna early next morning ...the
post town named by Count Dracula, is a
fairly well-known place....

24. Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st
May, arriving at Vienna early
next morning ... the post town
named by Count Dracula, is a
fairly well-known place....

25. Left <a id="index-entry-122">Munich</a>
at 8:35 P.M., on <a id="index-
entry-101">1st May</a>, arriving at <a
id="index-entry-199">Vienna</a> early
next morning... the post town named by
<a id="index-entry-99">Count Dracula</
a>, is a fairly well-known place...

26. What does a smart index look
like?

27. Left <a id="index-entry-122"
class=”place”>Munich</a> at 8:35 P.M.,
on <a id="index-entry-101"
class=”date”>1st May</a>, arriving at <a
id="index-entry-199"
class=”place”>Vienna</a> early next
morning...the post town named by <a
id="index-entry-99" class=”person”>Count
Dracula</a>, is a fairly well-known
place...

28. <a href="/chapter3/index-entry-78" class=”person”>Dracula</a>
<a href="/chapter4/index-entry-101" class=”date”>May 1, 1893</
a>
<a href="/chapter1/index-entry-122" class=”place”>Munich</a>
<a href="/chapter9/index-entry-11" class=”cause-of-
death”>Murder</a>
<a href="/chapter10/index-entry-68" class=”food”>Succotash</a>
<a href="/chapter6/index-entry-99" class=”person”>Smith, Dr.</
a>
<a href="/chapter16/index-entry-119" class=”food
drink”>Sambuca</a>
<a href="/chapter15/index-entry-199" class=”place”>Vienna</a>
<a href="/chapter2/index-entry-666" class=”body-part”>Veins</
a>

29. HEY!
THAT’S AN API!
THAT WAS EASY!

30. What can we do with a book API?

31. We can build different interfaces
that allow readers to engage in
different ways.

32. The Pulp interface.

33. image: Gleann Ignacio

34. The Bits interface.

35. Image: Rebekah Ford

36. The
“what stuff is mentioned in this
book”
interface:
Small Demons.

38. The
“who is reading this and what are
they saying about it”
interface:
Readmill.

40. The
“Let’s explode this book and put it back
together in a very cool way”
interface:
Dracula Dissected.
bit.ly/draculadissected

50. IS THIS HARD?

51. Not if you use a good
book-based
content management system.
(like PressBooks!).

52. Conclusions:

53. 1.
Books are made of stuff that can be
named

54. 2.
If you name stuff in your HTML
(while indexing!), then we can
(easily) build new uses/interfaces
for our books, such as Dracula
Dissected.

55. 3.
<shameless_plug>
If you use something like
PressBooks to make your books,
making Dracula Dissected becomes
easy.
</shameless_plug>

56. So ... What is a book?

57. My definition:
“A book is a discrete collection of text (and
other media), that is designed by the
author(s) as an internally complete
representation of an idea, or set of ideas;
emotion or set of emotions...
... with an API.”

58. Talk to me about dissecting your
Dracula!
hugh@pressbooks.com
@hughmcguire
http://pressbooks.com