If They Can Build it, They Will Come

Sometimes, a business doesn't have the funds, the skills or the time to develop and maintain their service. Or perhaps, they quite simply want to tap into the skill and abilities of its users. By releasing a free application programming interface (API), there's a chance that the users will begin to build upon it. In other words, it's Harnessing the Collective Intelligence. However, it is aimed towards a select sort of members in the collective: the developers.

Imagine, that crowd of many skills, tastes and perspectives. Imagine they all want to improve the software, and have the capacity to do it. This is the potential of open source and open API. If there are issues with the software, the volunteer developers will find it. If there's a new feature that could be used, it can be developed by the people, for the people. This practice is known as Innovation in Assembly.

However, it isn't as simple as releasing an API (although that can happen). Rather, akin to harness collective intelligence, an API needs to be made attractive to the users. The more an API appeals, the more likely a skilled and insightful developer will utilise it. Several guidelines for Attractive APIs can include:

• The API is easy to access and easier still to use.
• The service is useful and the API can add to or use it in a new way
• The business trusts their customers, and learns from them.
• Documentation is clear, concise and possibly in different languages.
• Having a business plan in place to consider possibilities

Mozilla's Firefox is an interesting case. A simple web-browser that intentionally started off open-source has a variety of languages that enable users to contribute an incredible array of add-ons and tools. What makes it an interesting case is that amidst the add-ons and extensions, the community has contributed APIs for the platform, enabling new platforms within a platform.

On Mozilla's own site, they listed five main objectives:

1. Non-profit - Firefox is and always was free, people could donate if they felt it a worthy cause. This also enabled users quick and easy access to the browser.
2. Track record - It claims to have a long history of making decisions for individuals and the Web as a whole. By making decisions that aim to be a win for everybody, Mozilla has acquired many loyal customers.
3. Empowering - In contrast, they display their trust in the community by enabling the ability to modify and contribute to the software. 
4. Community - A powerful display of a harnessed collective intelligence; the customers are the developers.
5. Challenger spirit - When Firefox first came out, it directly challenged Microsoft's Internet Explorer as a browser. Skip a few years later, and it still remains a strong competitor in the market.

Firefox is a powerful demonstration of Innovation in Assembly, as it relies heavily on its community to add functionality and security to the software. It becomes rather evident that Mozilla's objectives were parallel to typical API guidelines, which is why Firefox has had such success.

References:
Nalla Senthilnathan (2004), How to design good APIs and Why they Matter, retrieved 23 March 2012
Marieke Guy (2009), What Makes a Good API then?, retrieved 23 March 2012
Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox Homepage, viewed 24 March 2012
Mozilla, Firefox Brand Toolkit, retrieved 24 March 2012