Guardian News and Media To Up Their Developer Services

Guardian News & Media have hired Matt McAlister from Yahoo's developer network in order to open up their web services to outside web developers:

Mike Bracken, technology director for development at GNM, part of the Guardian Media Group, which publishes the Guardian, Observer and MediaGuardian.co.uk, said McAlister has a "formidable track record and an international reputation for innovation".

"The significant thing is to think about the Guardian as a platform, and not just a publisher," added Bracken.

He said Yahoo had built an offering around search and maps, so the next question for the Guardian would be to work out which assets would be most relevant to make available to the developer community.

"We want to allow people to connect, and will provide data that people they can reuse and be creative with a vehicle that will help engage smaller agencies and development team in other companies create applications," Bracken added.