[buddypress-dev] Data Portability and Microformats

[Joseph North]

It's probably premature, but for "fine grained access", OAuth might be
something to look into. I think it fits into the data portability
discussion by defining a common protocol for services to request
protected data. A quick visual overview can be seen here:

http://www.hueniverse.com/hueniverse/2007/10/beginners-gui-1.html



On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 9:19 PM, Joseph Scott <joseph at randomnetworks.com> wrote:
>
>
>  On Apr 2, 2008, at 5:21 PM, Andy Peatling wrote:
>
>  > 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.
>
>
>  In my ideal world I'd be able to manage all of my profile/social data
>  in WordPress with fine grained control over who can do what with the
>  data.  Similar to the way the Flickr application authorization works,
>  it would be nice to have LinkedIn (just one example) contact my blog
>  asking for data.  I can then approve it and specifically list what
>  data it can read and write.  Instead of polling for new data,
>  LinkedIn would be able to push updates (that I've authorized) back to
>  my blog.
>
>  And there's no reason why this would need to be a one way thing.  If
>  I change something in my profile that I've granted LinkedIn read
>  access to, no reason why I shouldn't just push that data out to
>  LinkedIn.
>
>  This doesn't have to be limited to traditional profile data either.
>  The social graph data could also be passed back and forth.  If
>  someone who only uses LinkedIn makes a contact request in LinkedIn
>  and I approve it, that "relationship" could be pushed back to my blog
>  (assuming I allowed LinkedIn to do that).
>
>  I used LinkedIn as an example because many people are familiar with
>  it, but in this scenario WordPress could not only be a profile/social
>  data server, but a client as well.  My WordPress blog could contact
>  Bob asking for access.  Bob can then approve my blog and specify
>  which data I can read or write and I can do the same on my blog.
>  This way when I change my email address, my blog goes out and tells
>  Bob's blog about this change and vice versa (assuming both blogs had
>  the correct permissions to do so).  A decentralized profile/social
>  data network.
>
>  Fine grained access settings is a major feature here.  I might want
>  to share my mobile phone number with Bob, but not LinkedIn.
>
>  --
>  Joseph Scott
>  joseph at randomnetworks.com
>  http://joseph.randomnetworks.com/
>
>
>
>
>
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