News for April 2008
Since the emergence of the DataPortability project in November 2007, a significant amount of attention continues to surround the resulting data portability moment. In every month since, the Project has continued to grow, while concrete outputs are developed and delivered. This report highlights some of the things that the individuals and organizations involved in the DataPortability Project have accomplished each month and what is coming in the future. You can find more information about the Project by navigating to the multiple resources on the main site: http://dataportability.org
Praise for the Monthly Report
"The DataPortability Project Report is the first place I go to stay informed about the group's accomplishments, goals and challenges."
-Dave Evans, Digicraft
April 2008 Highlights
DataPortability Project Celebrates Its Six Month Anniversary
April marked the six month anniversary of the DataPortability project, and a six month strong report was produced, highlighting a lot of the accomplishments that the group has achieved in this short period. From conference hallways to conference panels, from personal blogs to online and mainstream media coverage, the topic of "data portability" is now mainstream and the community has an opportunity to resolve challenges by continuing to work with existing standards communities -- bringing users, vendors and business people together to address data portability.
Data Sharing Workshop a Place to Discuss and Act
DataPortability Project members participated in the well-attended two-day Data Sharing Workshopin San Francisco, where individuals from various organizations discussed tackling the problem of how users' data can move around the web under their control. One topic, "What Is Data Portability," was discussed and debated, along with many other important topics such as OpenSocial, XDI and issues of data "ownership." The focus was identifying what is doable today and what we can do to move the technical discussions forward. Detailed notes available hereand here. Another chance to participate in the Data Sharing conversation is coming up on May 15th with the Data Sharing Summit in Mountain View, CA.
DIY Data Portability and Cataloging "Month-by-Month" Data Portability Initiatives
The purpose of the DIY (Do It Yourself Data Portability) Club is to promote a series of DIY technology projects that require minimal effort, perhaps less than a one-person day to implement, yet produce immediate benefit for the implementer and introduce best practices without overwhelming budgets or staff. Some of the April highlights include:
DataPortability in Motion Podcast
The DataPortability in Motion Podcast has been a smashing success with hosts J. Trent Adams and Steve Greenberg. Four episodes where recorded in April, with more than 1,000 downloads and subscriptions.
- 4/4/2008: Kaliya Hamlin, Data Sharing Summit; Joe Andrieu, VRM Project; Danny Ayers DataPortability song.
- 4/11/2008: Kevin Marks, Developer Advocate, Google and OpenSocial Project; Christian Scholz (aka MrTopf)
- 4/18/2008: Phil Wolff, Editor at Skype Journal; Eran Hammer-Lahav, Editor of XRDS-Simple
- 4/25/2008: Jonathan Vanasco, CEO of FindMeOn.com and founder of the OpenSN.org
Data Portability Best Technical Practices
We published stubs for the first batch of documents. They are based on discussion in the Technical Action Group Skype Chat, Google Group and Meetups. These are the first steps of the Design Phase (as per the DataPortability Project Roadmap). Join us in padding out and completing these documents over the coming months. To read more and/or participate: http://wiki.dataportability.org/display/dpmain/Technical+Specifications'Talk' It Out, or Ask for Help Via Our Very Active Discussion Lists
Many good discussions and requests for assistance with data portability issues continue to be posted and discussed on the main DataPortability Public List. This central public discussion board has close to 1,200 members.
Press and Appearances
Blog and Media Coverage on Data Portability Issues and Announcements
You can also check out who's saying and writing about data portability in the Press Room or in this collection of news feeds among the highlighted links below:
Relevant Links
The Action Groups
The DataPortability Action Groups own a part of the DataPortability story. They are the lifeblood of the initiative. They make things happen. As the months progress, each Action Group continues to self-organize around emerging issues and the arrival of new volunteer talent, at the same time developing road maps and action plans for their specific topics. You can find the results on the various Action Groups discussion lists and pages listed below.
The Steering Action Group
Group Definition: The Steering Action Group helps set the direction and sustains the DataPortability Project as a cohesive whole. It consists of representatives from the other action groups and individuals who wish to help set the direction of the project.
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The Technical Action Group
Group Definition: The Technical Group is in charge of curating the Design goals, Use Cases and Technical Blueprint development. In all aspects, the goal is to find and contextualize existing work from other groups to weave them into a story - not to invent or discuss the problems/solutions from scratch.
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The Policy Action Group
Group Definition: Tasked with creating a Policy Blueprint. This group will largely feed off of issues identified by the Technical Action Group as well as other discussions about broader issues such as privacy, user rights, and law, and more.
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The Evangelism Action Group
Group Definition: Tasked with managing all internal and external content, collaboration, and communications, this group maintains documentation, manages media relations, and develops information products that ensure consistent message and effective collaboration between the Action Groups.
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The Implementation Action Group
Group Definition: Tasked with assisting developers in implementing the given standards and blueprints that enable Data Portability.
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Goals for May -- See the Message Calendar for details
- Do the Right Thing. There is a lot on the "policy" side of data portability that needs discussion and simplification. We need to be able to code and talk to users.
- Support the Social Software Stack. Address the evolution of interoperability and experiment with architecture and design patterns using existing work as the foundation.
- Extend the Discussion. Include consumers and corporations as well as technologists in the discussion about standards, policy and best practices for data portability. Make it clear that there will be hundreds of specs and protocols that enable data portability.
About this report
Do you have questions about the monthly reports or have content to contribute to the next report? Please contact Mary Trigiani (mtrigiani@foldier.com) or Daniela Barbosa (danielavbarbosa@gmail.com)
