[rdfweb-dev] FOAF browsing and FOAFster
Marc Canter
marc at broadbandmechanics.com
Mon Jul 7 19:34:56 UTC 2003
Ok - so I have spent some time 'identity browsing' (as I call it)
between many of your FOAF 'pages' or shall I say - I've used 'FOAF
Explorer' and 'ADD NEW FRIEND" to cruise around in Friendster, Ryze,
Fotolog, Everyones Connected, etc.
eCademy doesn't really offer that effect. Neither does LinkedIn,
Itsnotwhatyouknow or Ringo.
But this playing around does get one to start thinking about what an
equivalent:
FOAFster
..product might be like.
[see below #4]
So here's some notes/feedback I've assembled around this idea and the
beginnings of a spec I'd love to get some feedback on.
1. First I start off with a few questions:
a) Is there now a concept - or has there even been any
discussion on 'groups' of friends? The next layer out in organizing
people. An individual has a FOAF record, but what about a group of
people? Is there a formal data structure for them? A naming
convention? Some example of an equivalent concept to say - Buddy Lists.
In this (RDF)Web?
b) Is there any reason why FOAF Explorer doesn't keep
track of where it's been? It's path? That would be handy for 'getting
back' to where you 'were'.
c) Right now - there are these hard wired titles of
'what sort of a relationship we have'. I've seen some recognition that
this list should be expanded - but I'd also like to ask: "is there any
formal naming conventions, parameter passing conventions, object
definitions - at all - regarding 'friend logic'?" The logic that
controls: access, reciprocation, notification, approval, etc. - of the
"let's be friends" process?
d) this leads to pondering the concept of a 'friend
broker' server
e) What is the (RDF)Web's version of a home page?
- is it your blog's main page
- of some other "About Me" page
- or both
- it's confusing now - and confusion isn't
a good thing. And is it assumed that the page that displays the
FOAFicon - is THE page where the embedded FOAF (or at least pointer to
the RDF) is?
f) One key phrase in the (RDF)Web rap is when you talk
about 'tools to find the FOAF'
- and there seems to be the underlying
goal of doing things more 'automatically'
- Correct?
- so that seems to go along with the idea
of tracking people down, exclusively through a FOAF trail
- automatically finding them -
or not - based upon some path of connections
- rather than just go to a centralized
directory or database (old school thinking..)
- SO what I'd like to understand is "why
not a combination of centralized & decentralized?"
- as that would be much more
pragmatic, enable routing and grouping 'intelligence' to be added to the
mix
- and also be a bridge/gateway
into other, older legacy systems (in other words - the real world)
2. Now onto some observations about what's out there now
- even viewing a FOAF file - or understanding it
in it's simplest instantiation is challenging
- I found a reoccurring barrier -
being (believe it or not) the inconsistency on HOW I viewed an RDF file
- so some sort of RDF browser comes
to mind
- a viewer that assumes
RDF
- and does special
display features
- which makes it EASY
for people to view and walk through these records
-which would make it easier for
folks to grok FOAF - by having some sort of object browser - for it
- is there one - now?
- getting a solid 'first pass' of 'frozen' parts
of the spec
- would be really useful - round
about....... NOW!
- :-)
3. Now onto an idealistic spec - for FOAFster...a friends broker.
So what if the following product existed:
- It did everything FOAF Explorer and
FOAF-a-matic does now (and ADD a Friend)
- It featured a lite-weight friend broker
- which enables anyone to
instantiate rules and control over:
- who gets to be their
friend
- verifying one's friend
list
- sending out invites -
to become friends
- etc. [more here!]
- which supported the concept of a
'group' of friends
- which could be used
for clustering, sky groups, communities, tribes, affinity groupings,
geo-based gatherings, etc.
- as well as buddy
lists, chat sessions, mail lists, message boards, etc.
- which plays handily
into MANY concepts of social software 0 that OTHER systems maintain
- which connected disparate sets of
groups and individuals - together
- which had open APIs
-and which had the ability of
meshing together to form bigger groups/communities
- by importing and
exporting entire lists of people
- by sending/receiving
RSS and other content forms - and aggregating it for the
groups/communities
- which acted as a group
gateway - in general
- this product would:
- maintain a mirrored copy of one's
FOAF.rdf file
- so whenever changes
were made to it - those were accessile everywhere - automagically
- and dispensed with the
nonsense of having to manually update/emerge the rdf - each time a
change is made!
- need a basic utility to validate
the FOAF file
- which would have to be
maintained and kept up to date as new FOAFy things get established
- present a personal 'portal' type
interface -where one could display links, RSS channels, reviews,
conversations - sort of a complement to their blog - or act as the
blog's "About me." page..
So that's FOAFster. Kind of what Nat Friedman is doing - + Friendster
(or actually Ryze.)
4. It is my goal to become a 'static unambiguous property' in this
world of complex semantic dynamic organisms. I just wanna see products
based on FOAF get out there. That's my meme. If I get too pushy, rude
or American - just slap me. So in other words - my style, techniques
and underlying methodology of communication are rooted in a universe of
success in the software business, where we beat both Microsoft and Apple
with the first multimedia player, first cross-platform development
environment, object-oriented multimedia, interactive music videos. I
used to be Dave Winer's best friend, I've watched the web grow and
sputter, I've been waiting for broadband for 10 years and now I think
it's finally time - kind of approach.
5. Clarifying at least the current set of 'frozen' features - is
imperative
- what is the status of that effort
- how can I help?
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