Gentle Introduction to Using APIs with Python
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Want to expand your ability to find and use data available on the open web?
Facilitator: David Hodges, Associate Dean of Libraries for Digital Initiatives
Many familiar sites provide data behind the scenes via an Application Programming Interface (API), by which one can harvest and organize information using a variety of tools. This virtual workshop for faculty will introduce the basics of APIs, walk through some simple Python techniques to harvest data, and show how tools like Pandas and Plotly can be used to operate on the data to produce tables, graphs, and visualizations. One need not be an experienced programmer but some familiarity with Python is helpful. We will create scripts in Jupyter-Notebook format to gather scholarly research data from OpenAlex and artwork information from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We will use the cloud-based Google Colaboratory platform, so no special software installation is required.