I know this will sound funny to many folks, but when I see APIs, I see language and communication, and humans learning to speak with each other in this new digital world we are creating for ourselves. My friend Erik Wilde (@dret) tweeted a reminder for me that APIs are indeed a language.
APIs are languages. show me one #API aspect that cannot be adequately framed in the context of language design practices and challenges.
— Erik Wilde (@dret) June 4, 2017
Every second on our laptops and mobile phone we are communicating with many different companies and individuals. With each wall post, Tweet, photo push, or video stream we are communicating with our friends, family, and the public. Each of these interactions is being defined and facilitated using an API. An API call just for saying something in text, in an image, or video. API is the digital language we use to communicate online and via our mobile devices.
Uber geeks like me spend their days trying to map out and understand these direct interactions, as well as the growing number of indirect interactions. For every direct communication, there are usually numerous other indirect communications with advertisers, platform providers, or maybe even law enforcement, researchers, or anyone else with access to the communication channels. We aren’t just learning to directly communicate, we are also being conditioned to participate indirectly in conversations we can’t see–unless you are tuned into the bigger picture of the API economy.
When we post that photo, companies are whispering about what is in the photo, where it was taken, and what meaning it has. When we share that news link of Facebook, companies have a discussion about the truthfulness and impact of the link, maybe the psychological profile behind the link and where we fit into their psychological profile database. In some scenarios, they are talking directly about us personally like we are sitting in the room, other times they are talking about us like we are just a number in a larger demographic pool.
In alignment with the real world, the majority of these conversations being held between men, behind closed doors. Publicly the conversations are usually directed by people with a bullhorn, talking over others, as well as whispering behind, and around people while they completely unaware that these conversations about them are even occurring. The average person is completely unaware these conversations are happening. They can’t hear the whispering, or just do not speak the language that is being used around them, about them, each moment of each day.
Those of us in the know are scrambling to understand, control, and direct the conversations that are occuring. There is a lot of money to be made when you are part of these conversations. Or at least have a whole bunch of people on your platform to have a conversation about, or around. People don’t realize that for every direct conversation you have online, there are probably 20 conversations going on about this conversation. What will they buy next? Who do they know? What is in that photo they just shared? Is this related post interesting to them? API-driven echoes of conversation upon conversations into infinity.
Sometimes I feel like Dr. Xavier from the X-men in that vault room connected to the machine when I am on the Internet studying APIs. I’m seeing millions of conversations going on–it is deafening. I don’t just see or hear the direct conversations, I hear the deafening sounds of advertisers, hackers, researchers, police, government, and everyone having a conversation around us. Many folks feel like the average person shouldn’t be included in the conversation–they do not have the interest or awareness to even engage. To me, it just feels like a new secretive world augmenting our physical worlds, where our digital selves are learning to speak with each other. What troubles me though, is that not everyone is actually engaged in the conversations they are included in, and are often asleep or sedated while their personal digital self is being manipulated, exploited, and p0wn3d.
