Ruby on Rails is an open source Web application framework that allows you to easily build Web applications using a model view controller architecture. Ruby on Rails is gaining a substantial following in the developer community, and it has been adopted in many commercial and private sites. Its strength is in its ability to quickly and iteratively build Web applications in an agile manner.

IBM Lotus Connections is social software for businesses that includes Profiles to find people, Blogs to present your ideas, Dogear to save and share bookmarks, Communities to work with people who share a common interest, and Activities to organize your work. This article uses Ruby on Rails to build <A HREF="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/connections-rails/index.html?ca=drs-">a Web application that communicates with a Lotus Connections Dogear server</A> to retrieve and display bookmark information using REST services.