From APIs to affordances: a new paradigm for web services

Abstract

The ecosystem of services on the Web continues to grow and evolve while, at the same time, the number and diversity of connected devices increases; challenges lie ahead for both providers and consumers of Web services. This paper is presented as a 'what-if' proposal; an alternate paradigm for dealing with an increasingly heterogeneous network. Drawing from diverse sources including physical architecture, industrial design, the psychology of perception, and cross-cultural mono-myth, a new implementation paradigm is proposed to help software architects and developers meet these challenges; one that invites participants to shift their mental model from that of programming network devices to programming the network to which those devices are connected. To accomplish this goal an "affordance-rich message" is proposed; one that is based on shared understanding through network-oriented affordances instead of device-oriented APIs. A working model based on this approach is offered, examples given, and areas of related work identified.