Flemming and I are going to do some synchronization experiments for
XpertWeb (as if we were client and provider, keeping duplicate
information at our websites). (01)
A simple experiment is to try to sync publicly available identity
information. Suppose we both have vCards that keep our current
information. If we can point to each other's vCards, then that means
that we're able to be in touch, we're able to reach each other. If we
can keep them in sync (say, checking once a month, and keeping
historical copies) then that shows that we've kept track of each other.
If a web of people are doing this, then they're able to demonstrate
that they can and want to keep track of each other. I think this will
make clear which relationships are "mutual", so that both parties want
to remember it. If either side doesn't want to remember, and
voluntarily breaks contact, then that itself carries quite a "bit" of
information! As part of this system, the location of the vCards could
be changed regularly. A system of "pinging". (02)
It's not clear what exactly the purpose is, but this kind of experiment
will help us figure out the purpose. Certainly, identity information is
an important part of XpertWeb. We need to learn why. (03)
I'll be experimenting with the publicly available contact info that we
have for our lab members. Much of this is a bit out of date. So if
you'd like to participate in our sync experiments that would be great. (04)
I'm now going to generate vCards from our database. I'll do a bit of
research into the available formats. I think the original format just
used colons (:) and now there are XML and RDF versions, and Ian Bruk has
a RSS feed implementation http://www.kunekt.com So I appreciate any
kind of advice. I also include below a letter by Danny Ayers to the
Blue Oxen group, perhaps its relevant. (05)
Andrius (06)
Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms@ms.lt
+370 (5) 2645950
Vilnius, Lithuania (07)
Danny Ayers wrote, presumed copyright:
FOAF (friend of a friend) in Movable Type (08)
> I think this development is likely to have a significant impact in the
> social software arena, linking people with 'friend-of-a-friend' RDF
> profiles.
>
> Quoting Ben Hammersley (on rdfweb-dev) :
>
> "Movable Type have just announced a new hosted blogging tool - it's
> going to produce FOAF automatically for every user, and detect the link
> rel to the FOAF file of anyone who you put in your blogroll...I saw it
> on Monday, it's very very very sweet. So, I guess the FOAF world is
> about to get very much bigger..."
>
> Ben's also written the news up in the Grauniad (without the emphasis on
> FOAF) :
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,942024,00.html
>
> background on FOAF:
> http://rdfweb.org/foaf/
>
> Cheers,
> Danny.
>
>
> (09)
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