You know mashups have hit the mainstream when they hit the NY Times, and this article is a nice introduction to Mashups and why they have become a key component of “Web 2.0″.

Mashups in music are songs that combine words and/or music from 2 or more songs, and internet mashups are similar - generally they are a combination of the information from 2 or more websites or data sources into one site. Zillow.com, for example, is an excellent mashup that takes real estate information and “mashes it” with mapping information, so you can navigate homes and prices via maps as well as in other ways. Also in typical Web 2.0 mashup fashion, Zillow offers “APIs” or “Application Program Interfaces” which are tools that allow simple integration of Zillow into your own website.

Mashups are not new but along with other Web 2.0 sensibilities they are becoming the backbone of the new internet, and represent a new direction in online life and computing.

Although the internet started out as a fairly open environment, the advent of big money led many websites and services to force users to pay for content and services. “Paywalls” at sites like the New York Times, Salon, and others meant that you could not get at the stories unless you subscribed. These paywalls are coming down now in favor of advertising supported revenue models and more open environments where websites tend to share data and even advanced software and services simply in exchange for the benefit of appearing as a link or an information box within other sites, or for participating in that websites social experiences.

Still confused about mashups? I don’t think anybody can even hope to digest the tidal waves of innovation and information that flood over the internet on a daily basis. But if you want to understand more about mashups there is no better conference than Mashup Camp 6 coming up in in Silicon Valley in March. David Berlind and Doug Gold started these camps a few years ago and they are a superb way to get up to speed very quickly on how mashups are …. changing everything. Mashup Camps are “unconferences” where the participants dictate the flow and content of the sessions. In my experience this leads to more participation and more interesting sessions. But highlight of Mashup Camps are the “speed geeking” sessions where mashup developers share their ideas and mashups in mini-presentations to small groups. These last just five minutes and then the group moves to a new mashup. It’s a fantastic way to absorb a *lot* of information in a short time, and a lot of fun as well. The “Mashup University” is held the day before the camp as an introduction to some of the Mashups and Mashups APIs and how to use them in websites. Hope to See you at Mashup Camp!