Enabling End User Development through Mashups: Requirements, Abstractions and Innovation Toolkits

The development of modern Web 2.0 applications is increasingly characterized by the involvement of end users with typically limited programming skills. In particular, an emerging practice is the development of web mashups, i.e., applications based on the composition of contents and functions that are accessible via the Web. In this article, we try to explain the ingredients that are needed for end users to become mashup developers, namely adequate mashup tools and lightweight development processes, leveraging on the users’ capability to innovate. We also describe our own solution, the DashMash platform, an example of end-user-oriented mashup platform that tries to fill the gaps that typically prevent end users from fully exploiting the mashup potential as innovation instruments. DashMash offers an intelligible, easy-to-use composition paradigm that enables even inexperienced users to compose own mashups. As confirmed by a user-centric experiment, its paradigm is effective and increases the satisfaction of the end users.