Create Makeability Lab REST API

[jonfroehlich]

Would be useful to have a REST API for key elements like publications, news, and talks.

That way, I could easily add like a "Recent Pubs" list to my own personal academic webpage. Could this also be used to "suck" data in to localhost for easier testing with actual content?

[jonfroehlich]

Scoping this issue down (2026-06-14)

The test-data side of the original framing has been split into #1272 (factory_boy fixtures + curated prod media subset). After discussion, neither original justification requires a full REST API:

• Test data: factory_boy + a curated prod media rsync (3.9 GB visual core, out of 56 GB total) handles realistic local content far more cheaply than a sync API would. Tracked in Realistic test data: factory_boy fixtures + curated prod media subset #1272.
• External consumers: only one identified — Jon's academic page wanting a "Recent Pubs" list. Solvable with a single Django view returning JsonResponse (~20 lines, zero new dependencies) rather than DRF / auth scoping / versioning.

Recommended next step: either close this and open a narrow follow-up (e.g. "Add /api/people/<slug>/publications.json endpoint for academic-page embedding"), or keep this open as a long-term placeholder with the understanding that the two original drivers no longer require a full API.