I was talking on Saturday, and mentioned the phrase "technological ecosystem", to which I was then queried on what I meant, not because my friends wanted to know but because "Wind up Sevitz" is the new game the whole family can enjoy.
Anyway ...
You know ... I really hope OpenID works. Not because it will be useful (it will) become an enabler of sharing my data between platforms. More so it will set a precedent that disparate systems can work together if everyone gets off their collective arses and creates standards instead if just an API.
See all the big co's (Google / eBay / Amazon ) have these API's that people use to extend their platforms. Which is really good, as it creates cottage industries around these companies that allow their platforms to be extended and more value added to the system without them actually needing to do so. Although free API's are not free .
It's interesting, it's interesting to note Google especially keeps doing what Microsoft gets slammed all the time for doing, creating new customised protocols where standards exist. gMail doesn't do IMAP. gCal doesn't do iCalendar (it exports to this, this isn't the same). They create open APIs which is great but do they have to keep creating their own new protocols? It'll be interesting to see what impact Leopard Server has on this which should have more open software on it.
Anyway the point I'm getting to is that with OpenID authenticating between platforms, and proving that platforms can share data, maybe all the networks I have information on will start disintermediating and they will end up providing value by the service they provide not by locking me into holding my data ransom or locking me in.
Right an example since I've probably lost everyone now, and those of you still reading might be scratching your heads.
My favourite music in my Facebook profile I got from copying and pasting it from my last.fm profile. I use fbtwit.com to export my Facebook status to my Twitter account. And I still haven't figured out what to do with my photos and whilst Facebook handles tagging people nicely, I wouldn't use it as a main photo site, preferring Flickr (or perhaps Smug mug) But photos are such a crucial part of my life figuring out what to do there gets it's own blog post that will take hours to write.
You see, my data, my activity data, my attention data, my photos, all this should go into the system once. And then it should be consumed and rejigged and worked into each platform as each platforms needs and wants require. The value should be in how you utilise that data, not who has stores it. The value is not in being the company locking me in with an API but the company keeping me there by offering a superior service. If you love users, set their data free, if you're good to them, they'll come back to you.
... A technological ecosystem is what occurs when disparate user or social platforms share data and become greater as whole than any individual platform provides.
1. Gordon
But surely then, the market is ripe for a good application that does all that heavy-lifting for you, queries YOUR data and handles the API requirements for you?
BTW, it’d be easier to understand what you are saying if your wrote in simple english, stop using big words!! “disintermediating”.. seriously?!
Anyway, I’m not sure that a technological ecosystem is ever going to happen, it’s a pipe dream, a utopia. It’s more realistic to look to other sources for cross system interactions than expect the big players to re-engineer things.. surely?
2. Gordon
Ohh and yes, I realise the “no free API” argues against this, but that’s kind of my point.. as there is no free API, then none of us should have invested in all the different systems we currently use, we should’ve held out for one that would do it all.. but of course we’d still be waiting.
3. Destructor
“Wind up Sevitz” isn’t the new game the whole family can enjoy- it’s at least five years old.
4. Adrian
An application that acts as middleware between these sites is what we have now. It’s a hack at best, and is hardly a real solution. The problem is not that “it can’t be done” but that all these sites are not thinking about how they can get data in and out the system but how they can keep your data.
It’s the style of thinking behind the design I feel needs work, as much as the technical aspects of it.
We need more things like the Microformats and OpendID to enable the easy interchange of data, and less proprietary web apps. But I guess s/w started being proprietary first and open second so webapps should be no different. However the players that last will be the ones that open up their systems, I suspect and not the ones that protect them.
A technological ecosystem already exists. It’s just rather imperfect as most ecosystems are. I’m not expecting companies to reengineer their APIs, but just instead of just thinking “How can I create an interface to let users enter data X (say music likes)”, to also think “How can I work within the ecosystem to let users import their data if they already have it (say last.fm)”. OpenID does this.
And we all have words we like. Disintermediating is a lovely delicious tasty word that has all the trimmings. I love it. But for those who don’t:
maybe all the networks I have information on will start disintermediating
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maybe all the networks I have information on will start talking to each other, without me needing a heap of shit between them to make them work