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Fergus Pitt & David Peterson – The mashed up playlist

Web Directions South 2009, Sydney Convention Centre, October 11.45am.

Presentation slides

Session description

The ABC launched three new socially networked digital radio websites: ABC Dig Music, ABC Jazz and ABC Country in July 2009. They are the first of several ABC projects involving content aggregation. As well as having slick, highly usable designs the music platform integrates with various sources including MusicBrainz, YouTube, Last.fm and Wikipedia. This aggregation functionality graphically illustrates the possibilities of Semantic Web technology for an editorial organisation such as the ABC.


Fergus Pitt will discuss why and how the ABC is using the radically transformed online environment to enhance its new digital music radio stations ABC Dig Music, ABC Jazz and ABC Country, and how the functionality and technologies relate to the ABC’s charter, editorial policies and traditional operations.


David Peterson will explain how the sites were built with Drupal 6 and key ingredients that made the mashup possible: Semantic Web, Linked Data, MusicBrainz, Last.FM, Discogs and Apache Solr Search. He will cover the highs and the lows of Drupal along with the secret sauce that makes it all work.

About Fergus Pitt

Fergus Pitt PortraitFergus Pitt is the Technical and Strategic Projects Manager for ABC Radio Multiplatform. He has worked on the development of the ABC’s digital radio operation, and has been involved in ABC projects around participatory media, locative media, and changed production models for the digital environment.

Follow Fergus on Twitter: @fergle

About David Peterson

David Peterson PortraitDavid Peterson has been pushing at the boundaries of Web development since 1995; that combined with a background in wildlife cinematography brings fresh insight into what can be a geeks’ paradise.

David works as an independent consultant way up north in the tropics of Townsville where the heat nearly threatens to fry his brain. He is busy building Web apps that utilise Java, .Net, Semantic Web and the almighty Drupal. He enjoys exploring deep into the guts of these amazing platforms and strategically implanting Semantic Web goodies – opening up the possibility to do all sorts of deep Web integration. Did anyone say ‘Linked Data”?

Follow David on Twitter: @davidseth

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