Have you seen the new iPhone application "More Cowbell?" Simply download the free app to add glorious clanking cowbell sounds to any song playing on your iPhone. Simple, clean, and oh-so entertaining.

My cowbell affections aside, the creativity and usefulness of iPhone music applications is astonishing. The Pandora application, for example, offers instant music exploration and purchasing with just a few taps on your screen.

NPR Music offers an abundance of content to encourage music discovery--exclusive live concerts, intimate studio sessions and interviews with artists and popular programs such as All Songs Considered and Song of the Day. Working within the rights and permissions that artists and labels have generously allowed us to feature their music, we are planning to create iPhone applications that not only highlight our content, but also help users wade through the material to discover music that matters to them. It is also our goal to create something that capitalizes on the unique features of the iPhone.

Is it a program that reminds you to tune in to our live concerts as the artist takes the stage? Or a recommendation system to guide you through our thousands of artist pages? Do you want the Song of the Day delivered automatically, or the ability to find local public radio music programming wherever you are?

One of our resident music experts, All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton, posted his Top
5 iPhone Music Applications on the All Songs Considered Blog. See if you agree with him and tell us how an NPR Music iPhone app could be added to the list.

-Amy Schriefer, NPR Music

First, thanks to everybody for their API-related comments here and numerous other places. We are a bit overdue, but are working on putting up an FAQ for the API. As we have started to compile a list of questions, a common answer is emerging: We didn't want to hold the API back until everything possible was perfect. We do think the API today is very extensive and fills a void, but we also think that it will evolve as time allows, and as we respond to requests and new opportunities. As with everything else, we like to treat all our online efforts as an ongoing work-in-progress, with opportunities to get even better. But for the moment, we're very excited to see what ideas folks implement with it.

I've started a list of questions below. Please chime in with comments on what other questions you'd like see included in the API FAQ.

Continue reading "Proposing Questions for an API FAQ" >

There have been quite a few comments and posts around the Web about our API and I would like to clarify a few points about the offering. I also plan to engage in some of the discussions in other forums but I wanted to address them first in our own blog. To see some of the more prominent discussions, you can see the articles on TechCrunch and on Mashable.com.

A common discussion point on the API so far has been our exclusions. Below are the reasons for the exclusions referenced in both of the above blogs as well as some other details that I want to explain:

• NPR programs and series, including Fresh Air, This I Believe and StoryCorps, are getting excluded due to rights restrictions. We obviously would like to include these in the API and are looking into making it happen. That said, we did not want to hold up the launch of the API as we researched the rights.
• NPR programs, including RadioLabs, Car Talk and The Diane Rehm Show are distributed by NPR but their web content is not. As a result, these programs are currently not available on NPR.org or through the API.
• Other radio programs, including MarketPlace, This American Life and A Prairie Home Companion, are not NPR programs -- they are produced and distributed by other public radio entities like American Public Media or Public Radio Interactive. NPR does not have the access or the rights to distribute the content from those programs.
• Currently, we are not providing any of our video content in the API, although it is on our future plans. Our goal was to launch with our primary asset well defined, which is audio. There are still a few details that we need to work out before extending the API to offer our video content, but hope to be opening that up soon.
• Our online database goes back to 1995, including over 250,000 stories spanning 13 years. We are actively working to get more of the archival content, dating back to 1970, into the system and available through the API.
• NPRML is the XML structure that is native to our entire system and it is the structure that drives all content for NPR.org, the API and beyond. We decided to open it up just to be transparent with as much content as possible. This structure is not meant to be a new proposed standard or to replace our goals to expand our output formats. We do intend to include other more comprehensive formats like NewsML and others in the future.

Although we believe that our API is an extensive offering, it will only continue to grow with time. We really appreciate the feedback we have been getting and will look forward to getting more in the future. Knowing that there is a desire for video, for example, will help us prioritize accordingly to better serve the API community. Please check back to this blog for more information about our API and our future plans.

-- Daniel Jacobson

As referenced in yesterday's post, we launched our new API today. To find the API, you can either go directly to http://www.npr.org/api/ or you can follow the new link called "Tools / API" on the NPR.org left nav under the Services section.

In order to use the API, you will need to register using our new registration engine that Zach mentioned in a previous post. Once registered, you will need to generate an apiKey by clicking the Generate Key button on the API tab of your account profile. The apiKey is used to authenticate all requests to the API. After you get your apiKey, you can read our documentation or just go straight to the Query Generator, which is a comprehensive tool that allows you to easily create your API requests and see what your results would look like.

There were quite a few questions that we addressed when developing the API, but one thing that was not really in question was the need to open as much of our content as possible. As a result, almost everything that you can find on NPR.org that we have the rights to redistribute is available through the API. This includes audio, images, full text, etc. That said, there are elements, series and programs that we could not offer due to rights restrictions.

We also discussed in depth which output formats we would support. For launch, we are supporting RSS, MediaRSS, Atom, JSON, JavaScript Widgets, HTML Widgets and our custom tagging structure called NPRML. We would like feedback on what other formats we should support, although as of now we are planning to extend it to include NewsML. Which of the existing formats are you most likely to use from our API?

There were a ton of contributors to this new API with the primary technical architect being Harold Neal. Other major contributors include Joanne Garlow, Jason Grosman, Tony Yan, Ivan Lazarte, Stephanie Oura, Ben Hands, Shain Miley, Lindsay Mangum, Sugirtha Solai, Todd Welstein and Vida Logan, and others.

Finally, we would really like to get as much feedback from the community on the API, particularly on what you think you will use and what is missing from the offering. We will continue to post here with more thoughts and questions.

-- Daniel Jacobson

In the next couple of days, NPR.org will be launching our new API, which will be an open and extensive way for our users to share and mash-up our content. Once live, we will be adding a new link on the NPR.org left nav in the Services section called "Tools / API". We are very excited about this new tool and are looking forward to the inventive ways that you will use our content! After all, there are only a few of us but millions of you...

As part of the launch, we will also be showcasing several widgets and applications that were built using the API. All of these will be found on our upcoming widgets page, which will launch with the API. Among them is a widget that maps NPR stories based on Geoff Gaudreault's Reverbiage site, and an iPhone site built by our friends at Axiom Stack.

I will post again on the day of the launch to let you all know when it is live. We will also continue to post to this blog to solicit feedback on the API.

-- Daniel Jacobson

Mobile applications like Twitter have certainly changed social media, but is wireless mobility also changing traditional media? In our efforts to create a new way to engage NPR listeners, the team who created the NPR Mobile Web site may have stumbled upon an emerging trend in America's ever changing appetite for information. Then again, the many ways that our mobile audience acts differently from our online and radio audiences may just highlight some of the limitations of mobile technology.

Like Twitter, which is both a social network and a mobile application, NPR mobile combines two ideas from our collective fantasies into something new. In our case, we combined the idea of the mobile Web with the Dick Tracy watch. If you point your Web-enabled mobile device to http://m.npr.org, you'll see what's going on in the world right now and, just like Dick Tracy, you'll hear what's happening. You'll have this experience even if you're using a device that doesn't support streaming audio; when you click the "call" links next to any of the headlines, your mobile phone will dial up a recording of the story over your regular voice network. NPR was one of the first media company to recognize that, in the words of Bryan Moffett (one of the brains behind NPR Mobile), "voice is the killer app" of mobile.

Continue reading "Life After the Mobile Web: Will Media Ever be the Same?" >

There's growing interest among a number of my colleagues at NPR.org about making live chats a regular feature of the Web site. So far, we've conducted just a few experiments, and we've learned a lot from the experience. What would you like when it comes to live chats?

Continue reading "Chatting about NPR Live Chats" >

Zach Brand here -- I head up technology for NPR's Digital Media efforts. Our most recent additions to the codebase is our new registration engine / authentication tool. Initially, we're using the registration system for newsletter subscriptions, but in the coming months it will also allow users to participate in social networking features on the site. I realize that -- like a lot of technology -- as long as it works, you don't really notice it. That said, I think our new registration and log-in process is very easy, intuitive and pretty snappy. Check it out. The PHP development on this was the work of Joanne Garlow, Jason Grosman and Ivan Lazarte. The project process itself was managed by Jennifer Tuohy with help from K. Libner. Kudos to them and the rest of the team involved.

We are still looking to tune the authentication and SSL certs so it creates the fewest prompts in the various browser / OS combinations. Of course like all Web apps, I expect it will change and evolve as we go.

During this project a couple questions arose. First, was there any open source tool that would do the job? We pained a bit over this one since we do try to be as open source friendly as possible. Despite a couple valid contenders, none of them were well-suited to our current and future needs, so we did decide to build it ourselves. Which leads to the second question: do we integrate with OpenID? This time, our answer was yes. Unfortunately, to meet the timeline needed, we were not able to include OpenID on day one. Sooooo... the architecture of the system was built in such a way that that we will be able to add OpenID compatibility into it down the road. How quickly it is incorporated will likely be impacted by how much demand we do or don't hear. So please, chime in with your thoughts, critiques or even compliments.

-- Zach Brand

On behalf of the NPR Digital Media team, we'd like to welcome you to Inside NPR.org, a new blog that will serve as our official headquarters for new features and services we're developing for the NPR Web site. It's a chance for you to explore some of the many projects we're working on, and help us make them more useful as we roll them out.

The idea behind this blog has its roots in our two newest shows - Tell Me More and The Bryant Park Project. Both of them were rolled out as blogs many months before they were ready to go on air, in the hopes of getting as much public feedback as possible. Historically, it's common to develop a show behind the scenes, only giving listeners a chance to hear it when it was ready for prime time. By creating online communities for each show while they were still "rough cuts," we were able to build better programs because of it.

Now, we'd like to apply the same rough cuts idea to our online services in general. Whether it's rolling out social networking, building new mobile products or improving our online strategy in general, we're hoping we can develop better tools if you're a part of the conversation.

In the coming weeks and months, you'll hear from a variety of people from behind the scenes at NPR.org - software developers, product managers, online producers and others who are working on new Web site features. We hope that talking about these activities more openly will help create a virtuous cycle of product development and feedback.

Thanks for joining us; we look forward to brainstorming with you!

-- Andy Carvin and Daniel Jacobson

Here's a quick rundown of the discussion rules for the blog.

First things first: If you can't be polite, don't say it. Of course, we don't want to stifle discussion of controversial issues. Some topics require blunt talk, and we're not always going to agree with each other. Nonetheless, please try to disagree without being disagreeable. Focus your remarks on positions, not personalities. No personal attacks, name calling, slander, comments about someone's mother, comparisons to notorious dictators - you get the idea. And under no circumstances should you post anything that could be taken as threatening, harassing, bullying, sexist or racist.

Don't use obscenities -- even if the word in question is often used in conversation. We're not going to list the words we object to; you know what they are. Remember, this is a public forum and we want everyone to feel comfortable participating.

Anything you post should be your own work. You're welcome to link to relevant content and to quote from other people's work with attribution. But that doesn't mean you can copy and paste wholesale.

Please stay on topic. Think of it this way -- if you hosted a book club meeting at your house, you wouldn't want someone to show up and insist on discussing reality TV shows.

Rambling is the kiss of death. Keep your comments to 400 words or less. Generally, anything beyond a few paragraphs had better be very, very interesting to the larger community. We reserve the right to edit for brevity as well as clarity.

Please respect people's privacy. We love to learn about new and interesting individuals, but most people will not be happy to have their phone numbers or e-mail addresses published. If you need to share someone's contact information, please submit it through our contact form.

No spamming the comment threads - this isn't a place to hawk your wares.

We appreciate the news tips members of the public send us. However, NPR reserves the right not to publicize rumors, allegations, conspiracy theories and other information which we know to be false or unsubstantiated.

Be yourself - and not someone else. Don't post anything on the site posing as someone else. Imposters should look elsewhere for kicks.

Please don't use public forums for private communication. Most of our forums have a link (it's on the right side) for sending private messages to a blogger or host. Similarly, if you have comments about NPR coverage or policies generally, please don't use the blog discussion threads to air them. For issues regarding NPR editorial content or policies, write to the office of the ombudsman. To contact an NPR program or any of our business and technical departments, use the NPR contact form.

If you want to know even more information on what is and isn't allowed on NPR.org, please see our very official Terms of Use page.

What is Inside NPR.org?

Inside NPR.org is a blog that focuses on the NPR Web site and all the tools and services we're developing for it. The idea behind the blog is to roll back the curtain and give you a chance to learn more about projects were working on, as well as ones we're considering doing for the Web site.

Continue reading "Frequently Asked Questions about Inside NPR.org" >