Ironic
Posted Sun Jan 13 15:10:47 -0800 2008I don't want to bitch around, but isn't it funny, that Crowdvine is exactly the opposite of what we probably will talk about ag SG FooCamp?
I mean: everyone attendig already at least has one URL where you can find information about her/him. Why can't we just use this to establish a contact relationship?
I guess a lot of you are thinking alike, but I thought it might be worth the post...
Wow, tough crowd.
I'm happy for CrowdVine to be a strawman for discussion at the camp. But I'd be even happier if it helped people connect beforehand so that everyone had better face-to-face meetings, and if those meetings led to a furthering of data portability standards and tools.
I don't think a fully external social network (lets say homepages and XFN) has the same power as a dedicated group. There's something to be said for customizing your profile to the niche and the convenience of having all the people and discussions in on place.
I hope we can prove the "exactly the opposite" comment wrong over time by having a full implementation and releasing as much as possible as open source. As is, I think it's overly harsh. We're supporting most of the data sharing standards (RSS, OPML, hcard+XFN, FOAF, vcard). While we're not a great consumer, it's not like there's nothing (OpenID and some identity aggregation so your profile doesn't go completely out of date).
I don't say, there isn't a use for some kind of group functionality, where people can gather around a specific topic and/or event.
And I appreciate that you're supporting most of the data sharing standards. But still, I have to tell CrowdVine, who my contacts are, although I probably specified that somewhere else already.
I really look forward discussing this, because you currently have no standarized way of connecting people from different social networks. OpenID + Profile Attributes + Contacts could be the solution to this.
CrowdVine then probably could focus on supporting those groups that gather here. Like Wikis, timetables, polls, etc.. But you would no longer need to implement and maintain all the social networking features.
@Stubblevine -- Right on the not great consumer. Consuming is tho important bit. hCards and XFN links are great, but someone has to be willing to READ them, and not just write.
It would be possible to programatically pull this information in. However, I would be concerned about people permitting this sort of wholesale import.
Imagine, everyone having a set of keys (mapped to id) on a keyring. If you have read capability on one key and describe the other keys you have to say Crowdvine, then it's possible to pull in all the other intersecting networks. It will not necessarily be complete but be at least a good start.
Grr, would be easier to draw a picture. Too bad I can't make it to the camp.