Preview: diretto Task API

The Task API is an additional service API that provides support for advanced task management between different platform users while reporting, but also thereafter. It represents an optional service API that does not belong to the core platform, although deployments will be beneficial in most scenarios.

Task API: http://diretto.github.com/diretto-api-doc/v2/diretto-ext/task.html
Repository:  https://github.com/diretto/diretto-api-doc

In short, users can create tasks, and other users can participate in these tasks. In terms of the diretto platform, a task is a request of specific footage. Reporters may take in part in tasks and contribute required documents as submissions. A task is always bound to a location and a time frame. A title and description define the task and optional tags allow to categorize it. Votes help to prioritize different tasks within the community. Tasks can be commented for exchange of ideas. Finally, every user can submit an existing document as footage for the task. The community can then rate the suitability of the submission regarding the task request. Besides the of directed collection of live footage, the Task API can also be used for specialized search queries. In this case, a task represents a search query and all potential results are submissions. This user-driven search is helpful for queries when only users can reason about appropriate hits by analyzing the documents.

Example 1 – Directed reporting
Scenario: The diretto platform has been deployed for a major sports event, let’s say a marathon.
Spectators are encouraged to upload live photos from their wayside position, thus creating a large collection of different photos from this event. Due to special interest in photos of the current title holder a contender, a task has been created for this. When taking pictures of these runners, a reporter may add the document as a submission to this task.

Example 2 – User-driven search
Scenario: A tsunami has devastated a larger coastal area. In the aftermath, a diretto platform has been deployed in order to collect corresponding media footage. Although there was a major infrastructure breakdown, eyewitnesses had been able to make photos and videos using their cameras or smartphones. A few days later, many of these documents have been uploaded and are now available on the internet.
The diretto platform is used to aggregate these documents combined with temporal and spatial meta data. A task is then created querying for documents that capture the exact moment of the flooding for further analysis. Platform users may now survey all existing document and suggest appropriate footage to the task as submission.

Tags: api, crowd, json, location based service, rest, task, web service