Modeling Collaboration for Mashup Design

Enterprises often promote internal collaboration to improve performances, in terms of time and quality, of their design and operational processes. Recently, enterprise mashup has been introduced as an approach for quick developing applications which are created to satisfy short term business needs. Mashup development leverages on collaboration to integrate software components, called Web APIs, which can provide access to complex functionalities and rich data sources. To this aim, we propose a collaboration model-based approach that includes description of Web API features based on the ProgrammableWeb.com public repository and social relationships among developers. This model is proposed as part of the Enterprise 2.0 paradigm, that has been recently introduced as application of the Web 2.0 technologies and ideas to the enterprise environment. In the discussed model, a mashup developer is supported in searching for the other developers’ assistance and advices according to different perspectives reflecting typical collaboration patterns: (1) experience on the use of specific Web APIs; (2) experiences on specific Web API technologies; (3) competencies in developing specific types of mashups.