<foaf:community>?

[The Emperor <the_emperor at m...>]

Martin,

> Please can we not have HTML email on this list? I'm interested in 
this
> topic but reading this exchange in my newsreader is difficult.
>
I caught your other post on this but it did remond me to switch HTML 
formatting off in myown profile (I also object to extra formatting).

> I think a community definition would be a boon to the uptake of 
FOAF,
> because a lot of the most interesting sites are community sites
> (slashdot, somethingawful, metafilter, b3ta, numerous thriving
> discussion boards) and it is important to individuals to be able to
> publically identify themselves with quite arbitrary groups (Hell's 
Angels,
> IRC #randomchannel regulars, Britcom fans, MidWest Bisexual Plushie
> Fetishists) and to have properties that are peculiar to those groups
> (geek codes, megabytes of Warez uploaded, Karma). An online 
identity is
> often little more than a standing of a particular group. 
> "Organisation" has more legalistic: is the Hell's Angels an
> organisation?
> 
I think you are discussing two different concepts (both of which are 
very interesting). I was thinking of communities as in community 
sites - Hells Angels (but, possibly, not individual chapters), 
Brittney fans (but not specific forums), etc. are a whole different 
kettle of fish - groups or special interest groups (SIGs) and are 
much more nebulous and are really loose collections of communities. 
It would be interesting to have a <sig:Group> module too to try and 
give meaning to these kinds of communities. I am a member of a number 
of communities which are parts of larger groups and finding a way to 
describe those larger SIGs would also be interesting - unless I've 
got the wrong end of the stick, of course ;)

Regards,
Emps