Previous work has explored the structure of the mashup ecosystem, which can be modeled as a network of mashups and APIs. However, it did not offer an explanation for its growth. In this paper, we seek an answer to the question how mashup developers select APIs. One hypothesis that has been put forward is that APIs are selected by their popularity, that is, by preferential attachment. However, this hypothesis is unsatisfying, as it disregards that mashups are composed from multiple APIs, and neglects the learning between mashup developers. Instead, we propose a copying model. We test to what degree developers create mashups by copying other mashups. We show that a good fit between the actual distribution of APIs and our model can be obtained. We can conclude that copying plays a significant role in explaining how mashups are developed. We also identify open research questions raised by the results.
Abstract:Mashups allow users to develop applications from a variety of open APIs. The creation of mashups is supported by a complex ecosystem of interconnected data providers, mashup platforms, and users. A sign of a healthy ecosystem is that the number and diversity of APIs and mashups in the ecosystem increases continuously. In this paper, we describe a model of the evolution of the mashup ecosystem that allows us to estimate the diversification of the mashup ecosystem over time. In this model we show the evolutionary relationships between mashups as branches in a phylogenetic tree. We discuss how the diversification rate of the mashup ecosystem can be estimated by fitting this tree to a birth-death process model. The results of our research show that the diversity of the mashup ecosystem is increasing with time, however, not monotonically.
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