[buddypress-dev] Data Portability and Microformats

[Andy Peatling]

One thing I haven't added to the BuddyPress site yet is how we are  
going to handle data portability.

This is a fairly hefty topic and I've heard a wide range of different  
ideas. I'm not completely set on an absolute direction for BuddyPress  
in this area yet. It is however something that is very important, and  
much needed in the social networking space.

These are my thoughts so far after having discussions with various  
people:

- Data needs to be as easy to get out as it is to put in.

- Sharing of data between BuddyPress installations should be as easy.  
You should be able to pull in data from one BuddyPress installation  
for use in other installations.

- There is no central information "hub" with BuddyPress. The DiSo  
project envisions using a basic WordPress installation as a place  
where you add your information to share with other networks. What if  
BuddyPress could utilize this, and pull in as much information from  
this source as possible when you first register? A BuddyPress  
installation could periodically check this source and ask if you  
wanted to import new information.

- The use of Microformats when rendering information so that it can be  
utilized by other non BuddyPress sources.

- The ability to completely export all of your data in 'X' format.

- The use of Gravatar to implement a shared profile picture library  
across all networks.

- The ability to finely tune privacy settings, and the creation of  
data access level groups. This would give you the ability to pick and  
choose the amount of data available to specific sites.

Lets discuss this area in more detail. I really want to hear people's  
thoughts and ideas on how we can make BuddyPress as distributed and  
open as possible.

Andy


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Andy Peatling | Social Engineer | Automattic
http://andyinlife.com