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ReliefWeb’s Journey from 
RSS Feed to API 
9/26/201 
4
What is ReliefWeb? 
Why does it have an API? 
How was it built? 
What did it take to open it? 
What’s next?
Adam 
Ross 
Software Architect & API Designer 
Email: 
aross@phase2technology.com 
Twitter: 
@grayside_sb
What is ReliefWeb 
• ReliefWeb is a specialized digital service for the 
United Nations Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs) established in 1996. 
• Global staff of 30 content editors aggregating 
and curating content on a daily basis for the 
Humanitarian sector. 
• Over half a million items, growing by tens of 
thousands per year, especially in 
the community-sourced areas of jobs and 
training.
RSS Was Not Enough 
• “Here are the last 10 things: build your UI” 
• Deep integrations are RSS-driven migrations, you need 
to build an entire application and be responsible for 
your own scraped copy. 
• This means lots of overhead for innovation
So they Made an API 
and... 
• Built a mobile version of the site 
• Built a trends & analytics site to 
examine what’s going on in the 
world across decades 
• Building a new search system on 
top of the API
Built on Open Source 
PHP 
nginx 
ElasticSearch 
Swagger 
Composer 
Klein 
Elastica 
Jenkins 
... etc
Especially 
ElasticSearch 
• Provides a wealth of search & analysis 
functionality for the API. 
• Booming community of tools, especially 
monitoring. 
• Separately scales from main content storage. 
• API app focuses on creating a developer 
experience.
Opening the API 
• Public data, public need, public innovation. 
• Already have a webapp, what more could we need? 
• (A systematically managed platform.)
API Provider says... 
Scale 
Analytics 
Policing 
API Consumer says... 
Reliability 
Usability 
Documentation 
Invested
Usability & Reliability 
• Hypermedia 
• JSON 
• CORS (Browser-friendliness) 
• Backwards Compatibility a.k.a. 
Forwards Compatibility 
• Testing (all the ways) 
• Getting here is a new version and 
over 80% code change
More People Sharing ReliefWeb’s 
Mission 
• Want people to be able to easily 
execute on ideas 
• There’s not time to spend days or 
weeks learning the system. 
• Meaningful usage helps fulfill 
ReliefWeb’s goals and drives 
technology investment.
Roadmap Teaser 
• Infrastructure Upgrade to improve Reliability & Scale 
• Usage analytics to target improvements and monitor 
community impact. 
• SDK & Web Widgets to facilitate integration 
• Geo & Semantic use cases
reliefweb.int 
api.rwlabs.org
PHASE2TECHNOLOGY. 
COM

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ReliefWeb's Journey from RSS Feed to Public API

  • 1. ReliefWeb’s Journey from RSS Feed to API 9/26/201 4
  • 2. What is ReliefWeb? Why does it have an API? How was it built? What did it take to open it? What’s next?
  • 3. Adam Ross Software Architect & API Designer Email: aross@phase2technology.com Twitter: @grayside_sb
  • 4. What is ReliefWeb • ReliefWeb is a specialized digital service for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) established in 1996. • Global staff of 30 content editors aggregating and curating content on a daily basis for the Humanitarian sector. • Over half a million items, growing by tens of thousands per year, especially in the community-sourced areas of jobs and training.
  • 5. RSS Was Not Enough • “Here are the last 10 things: build your UI” • Deep integrations are RSS-driven migrations, you need to build an entire application and be responsible for your own scraped copy. • This means lots of overhead for innovation
  • 6. So they Made an API and... • Built a mobile version of the site • Built a trends & analytics site to examine what’s going on in the world across decades • Building a new search system on top of the API
  • 7. Built on Open Source PHP nginx ElasticSearch Swagger Composer Klein Elastica Jenkins ... etc
  • 8. Especially ElasticSearch • Provides a wealth of search & analysis functionality for the API. • Booming community of tools, especially monitoring. • Separately scales from main content storage. • API app focuses on creating a developer experience.
  • 9. Opening the API • Public data, public need, public innovation. • Already have a webapp, what more could we need? • (A systematically managed platform.)
  • 10. API Provider says... Scale Analytics Policing API Consumer says... Reliability Usability Documentation Invested
  • 11. Usability & Reliability • Hypermedia • JSON • CORS (Browser-friendliness) • Backwards Compatibility a.k.a. Forwards Compatibility • Testing (all the ways) • Getting here is a new version and over 80% code change
  • 12. More People Sharing ReliefWeb’s Mission • Want people to be able to easily execute on ideas • There’s not time to spend days or weeks learning the system. • Meaningful usage helps fulfill ReliefWeb’s goals and drives technology investment.
  • 13. Roadmap Teaser • Infrastructure Upgrade to improve Reliability & Scale • Usage analytics to target improvements and monitor community impact. • SDK & Web Widgets to facilitate integration • Geo & Semantic use cases