[buddypress-dev] Data Portability and Microformats

[Joseph Scott]

On Apr 3, 2008, at 3:53 PM, Andy Peatling wrote:

> On 2-Apr-08, at 9:19 PM, Joseph Scott wrote:
>>
>> 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.
>>
>
> Joseph, excellent ideas, this really takes things a step further.  
> One issue right now is that there is no solid standard for sharing  
> profile data between networks. We'd need to create a new standard  
> for sharing (hProfile?).


Well sure, but don't let that get in our way :-)


> My biggest concern is making sure the process is easy for the  
> average user, without confusing them. The idea that data can be  
> fetched from and updated in other places is a foreign one to most.
>
> I was just chatting with Chris Taylor, his idea was to approach it  
> in a step by step way:
>
> 1. "Do you have a profile on another site? Just type your profile  
> address in below and we'll try to get your details..."
>
> 2. If yes: "Great! We found your profile details on <site name>.  
> Would you like to make your details there the same as here?"
>
> 3. Give more advanced users the option to provide a list of sites  
> that they would like updated, or to fetch profile data from.
>
> Of course the same could be done for connections, photos, status  
> updates, etc.. but one step at a time. :)

This is why I mentioned something along the lines of what Flickr has  
done.  One example I ran into recently was that MarsEdit (a Mac blog  
client) has support for talking to Flickr to insert your Flickr  
images into blog posts.  Clicked on a button in MarsEdit, then it  
took me to my Flickr account (where I was already logged in) and  
Flickr asked me if it was ok to grant MarsEdit read access to my  
images.  I said yes and went back to MarsEdit, where it was now  
showing me all my Flickr photos.  What I didn't like about the  
experience was that the permissions were way too broad, but I feel  
that is completely a server side issue, nothing really to do with the  
client (MarsEdit).  Continuing with the Flickr example, it would have  
been nice to limit in some way, by tag for instance.


>> 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).
>
> Definitely. What if this relationship was pushed between all of  
> your networks? If you connect with someone on one network who also  
> exists on another network you are part of, you could be presented  
> with the option of adding them there too.

Like echoing out changes from one site to all your other sites?   
Quick example, I get a friend request on Facebook, which pushes that  
change to my blog profile (because I've already granted it permission  
to do, which I then approve.  My blog then looks at all the other  
sites (like LinkedIn) that I have permission to push this specific  
data out to and does so.  In this way my blog remains the hub of all  
my profile/social data.  And of course I could chose not to echo out  
that data, or only echo it out to specific other sites.


>> Fine grained access settings is a major feature here.  I might  
>> want to share my mobile phone number with Bob, but not LinkedIn.
>>
>
> Fine grained access settings are crucial, especially when you're  
> pushing personal data around.

Completely, 100%, agree.


--
Joseph Scott
joseph at randomnetworks.com
http://joseph.randomnetworks.com/