InnovationBase – Interview: Matt Taylor

Matt Taylor is based at the University of Southampton and is currently working on the InnovationBase project…

What is InnovationBase?

InnovationBase is intended to be a resource for developers to share ideas about their processes and their development methods.  Specifically, it will allow them to express information about their projects, which is not immediately apparent when looking at the end product or documentation in isolation.

What problems/issues is InnovationBase tackling?

The problem is that software may not have been developed with re-use in mind or may just be too specific for general re-use.  However, the processes and decisions made during development could provide other developers with insight into a domain of interest they may otherwise know nothing about.  The IB will provide a repository for storing this information and making it available to the wider developer community, but we need to encourage people to invest in it by contributing so it can be a useful resource.

How would you like other software developers and users to get involved in what you are doing?

We would definitely like people to get involved by becoming contributors to the depository, which would involve logging into the website at www.innovationbase.net and contributing to the system.

What developer communities have you been involved in and if none, why not?

I went to Dev8D and this event (obviously) so these have been really useful for getting feedback and having the opportunity to explain our project as part of a wider picture.

What is the coolest or most exciting thing in educational software development?

I quite like Hugh Glaser’s project that he did a lightning talk on yesterday, which is one of the best uses of semantic technologies that I have come across so far.