Mashup fatigue

This is mostly just a feeling at this point, but I’m starting to think that overenthusiastic mashup-making is a waste of time.

Mashups, I’m now thinking, are a path to, or perhaps even only (as Ivan suggested across the round table today) practice for, a solution that helps to solve some human problem. When we go to develop social and sociable systems, we are trying to solve some problem in the hands of users.Practice. Like a textbook problem. To build skills and test ideas. A demo. To mix shit together and see what happens. To test openness and transparency. A place on the way somewhere.

So, let’s go and mash up all these APIs, but let’s not waste all our lives on it.

In searching for real problems we’ll find elegant things to do that help.