Learning Lunch - Introduction to Web APIs

We're going to try something different. Inspired by a journalist called Noah Veltman (https://github.com/veltman/learninglunches), we're putting on a HacksHackers Manchester "learning lunch". We hope it will be a way for people to learn about and discuss important topics for journalism in the 21st century.

The first one will be on the subject of web APIs. An API (Application Programming Interface) is a way of getting information out of a system without having to know all the details about how the system works. Everything from Twitter to Yelp to Google Spreadsheets has an API and we're going to look at:

• the basics of how web APIs work

• why you might want to use them

• how you can use them without doing any programming

• Popular APIs

We've booked some tables at Ziferblat (http://www.ziferblat.co.uk) on Edge Street in the Northern Quarter, a venue which charges 5p a minute per person. It includes superfast Wi-Fi, unlimited free coffee, tea, soft drinks, waters, cakes, biscuits, toast, savoury snacks and cereals. That works out at about £3 for an hour, so it seems like a pretty good deal.