The mashup is an established online phenomenon. Take the data from one source, mash it with the data from another and create a new way for users to interact with it. But here’s the rub: the dividing line between “users” and “creators” is clearly drawn.

Mashups like the venerable HousingMaps (www.housingmaps.com) that takes Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) rental listings for major cities allows users to filter by location, cost and keyword, and then plots the results on a Google Map. The product is a much more user friendly interface for Craigslist data. Distance mapping — from school or work, major attractions, highways and the like — is all user-driven; looking at the map, you determine where the abode is in relation to where your personal map push pins would go.

If you are an advanced user and know your way around code, you could perhaps upgrade HousingMaps data to include “what’s nearby” to look for schools, pizza, sushi, libraries or anything else Google keeps track of. Or, you could start from scratch and create your own HousingMaps-style mashup. That’s not for most users though.

Intel is blurring the dividing line between content creators and users. By making a more user-friendly interface for creating mashups with Intel Mash Maker, the door is swung wide open for users with ideas but without the coding know-how to create and share new mashups.

“Mash Maker is targeted at end users across the spectrum of capabilities,” says Jeff Klaus, marketing director for Intel Mash Maker. In less marketing speak, that means anyone from novice to techspert can contribute to the Mash Maker community. Mash Maker was created “for users that are opening up three, four, five browser windows or tabs to complete a task,” Klaus says. Anyone that’s ever mapped an apartment or real estate listing and maintained an online chat about said listing while taking notes can appreciate that logic. Mash Maker takes the various services that are available online and allows users to create their own interface to that service.

A prime example from the current top-down model of Web publishing: Expedia.ca offers a portal for users to collect numerous airfares, hotel and car rental deals in one place. In addition to prices, departure dates and times, Expedia tells you the type of aircraft you’ll be flying in if you book. If you’re a power flyer, you’ve probably taken the carrier and plane info and plugged that data into SeatGuru.com to check which seat in cattle class is your best bet. Mash Maker consolidates this and other user selected info from across the Web and puts it all in one place — on the page you’re visiting.

“I’d normally have to rely on Expedia to change their site and incorporate that information,” says Robert Ennals, senior researcher at Intel Research Berkeley and Intel Mash Maker Architect. Ennals is also the man responsible for creating the Firefox browser plugin that makes Mash Maker run smoothly.

Next: User-driven interface

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