NPR API: Open-Sourcing Syndication?

In late July, NPR took an unprecedented leap into open-source development by releasing its application programming interface (API), which enables users to create applications featuring content from an archive of NPR programs dating back to 1995. This move makes it much easier for NPR content to migrate across platforms—featured widgets based on the API include players for iPhones, Facebook, and Google's Desktop Sidebar. It also offers developers the chance to search and display targeted NPR stories on their own sites through various widget-based interfaces. NPR is among a crop of news organizations—including Reuters and the New York Times—that are exchanging control of their content for the promise of wider distribution and relevance.

In our new article, "A Peek Under the Hood of the NPR API," KJZZ webmaster John Tynan offers a first-hand account of his efforts to develop a widget that allows users to create tailored timelines of NPR pieces. In the process, he describes not only new tools for media makers, but a rising ethos of collaboration in public broadcasting. "A cultural shift in the public broadcasting world is leading to a deeper understanding that truly public media is now technically feasible," notes Tynan, who suggests a several next steps that pubcasting organizations could take to nurture future experiments.