Pearson gives app developers access to classic titles
New app mashups could help bring the classics to a new generation
By Sophie Curtis | Techworld | Published: 16:47, 10 October 2012
Educational book publisher Pearson is opening up its library of images and classic titles to developers, enabling them to integrate the content into new and innovative apps and services.
The company is making two data sets available via its API programme, Plug & Play: a dkimages API and a Penguin Classics API.
The dkimages API consists of a library of 90,000 images, including the iconic ‘on white’ DK imagery, while the Penguin Classics API includes 48 well-known titles from authors such as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, and the Brontë sisters.
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Developers can search or browse the collections by subject before purchasing the texts and images they want to use to illustrate their work and create new apps.
Diana Stepner, Head of Future Technologies at Pearson, said that both data sets have been frequently requested by developers, and that the company was “ excited to see what fantastic new apps and services developers had in mind”.
The release of two new data sets marks the first birthday of Pearson's API programme. They join six other data sets that have been released since Plug & Play was launched in September 2011.
Earlier this year the company unveiled an API that allows developers to re-use a library of 2,500 food recipes from its cooking books. It also offers APIs for Eyewitness Guides, Longman dictionary definitions and Financial Times press releases.
The company has also updated its Plug & Play website to make it easier for developers to begin using the APIs promote the work of developers more prominently.
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