[buddypress-dev] Data Portability and Microformats

[Andy Peatling]

On 2-Apr-08, at 9:55 PM, Joseph North wrote:
> 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
>

Hey Joe! Great to see you on the list, I hope things are going well  
with you.

Thanks for posting this info, OAuth looks like it could be really  
useful.

Andy


>
>
> 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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