Saturday, December 30, 2006

Will 2007 see the emergence of niche social networks?. This is a question that we have been pondering over the past year. Since the beginning of Elgg the goal has always been to create a distributed collection of networks that are loosely joined, if appropriate, where users can create one identity (or use an existing identity) and participate in multiple networks - built on open standards. Further to that - it is not about locking users into one system but rather giving them choices. The choice of which services to use, where to store their data, how their environment looks. One problem with sites like MySpace is the shear size - while I realise this is also its main asset, it makes the site and others like it, useless for those wanting to create something specific. We hoped last year would see more niche/focused networks springing up but unfortunately I am not sure this will ever happen. We have always argued that you do not need millions of users to make a social network work, a collection of users with a real reason to be there can cre Dave Tosh : Weblog, December 30, 2006. [Conversation] [Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Edu_RSS Most Recent - RSS old] 12:50:13 PM      Google It!.

What do you think about FOAF?. Elgg has had FOAF support for over two years now and I can safely say that no one has ever made use of it. I am curious as to what others think about FOAF? The standard is fairly simple and clean - it seemed to have good potential but for what ever reason it was never really adopted. Is FOAF now dead in the water, or something that is still worth supporting? Perhaps, as networks become more distributed, this will provide a catalyst for FOAF to rise in prominence? Or is there something else we should be looking at instead? Then there is XFN - I don't know much about it but will explore over the coming weeks. Dave Tosh : Weblog, December 30, 2006. [Conversation] [Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Edu_RSS Most Recent - RSS old] 12:49:22 PM      Google It!.

Top 100 Education Blogs. Random Walk in Learning, December 29, 2006. [Conversation] [Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Edu_RSS Most Recent - RSS old] beach combing on the shores of the virtual ocean -- BL 11:22:08 AM      Google It!.

Red Sweater Blog has what appears to be a private document explaining a partnership between Apple and Nintendo to the employees of both companies. [Scripting News]  this has potential for online learning on the go and with a little bluetooth and wifi it could be packaged as a viable "personal learning assistant" with contingent playtime. -- BL 11:19:34 AM      Google It!.