Browser and Management App for Google's Person Finder

[schihei]

Dear all,

based on the recent events in Japan I had an idea for a browser and
management application for your Google Person Finder database.

I copied my first ideas in a presentation and looking forward to your
feedback and comments. It would be wonderful if we can have a
discussion about the pros and cons. ;)

You can find the presentation via the following link:
http://www.slideshare.net/schihei/browser-and-management-app-for-googles-person-finder

Section 1, slide 3 gives you an overview of my observations how such a
tool will be used during a disaster.

Section 2, slide 14 shows some facts of the current Google Person
Finder application.

Section 3, slide 20 describes my idea and shows some possibilities.

Looking forward to your feedback, Heiko

[Tim Schwartz]

Hi Heiko,

Thanks for taking the time and effort to prepare this. Overall, this
seems like a wonderful idea, though I think this type of application
needs to remain separate from the main PF branch. I believe the main
PF system should stay stay simple on the front-end for general use
during disasters. This could be a great tool for other types of users
though, what would be interesting to see is who might be using this
type of management app. Do you see this more for relatives or friends
outside of an affected area or do you see this being used by agencies
or individuals inside an affected area? I think that might be the
first main distinction to think about. Also, I think this would have
to be a cross-browser online system, any standalone app would be hard
to support across platforms, especially during a disaster.

Google has done a great job so far at keeping the system simple, but I
see that there could be benefits to making an alternative management
application using their API. The main question is who would be using
it?

Cheers,
Tim

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[Heiko J Schick]

On 13.04.2011, at 22:27, Tim Schwartz <tim.c.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks for taking the time and effort to prepare this. Overall, this
> seems like a wonderful idea, though I think this type of application
> needs to remain separate from the main PF branch. I believe the main
> PF system should stay stay simple on the front-end for general use
> during disasters.

I completely agree with you. The original PF GUI should stay simple, fast and efficient. The management application can be on top if it in a different branch. So the original PF application keep all its advantages.

> This could be a great tool for other types of users
> though, what would be interesting to see is who might be using this
> type of management app. Do you see this more for relatives or friends
> outside of an affected area or do you see this being used by agencies
> or individuals inside an affected area? I think that might be the
> first main distinction to think about.

I can image that this kind of application can be used by friends or family members which are outside of the affected area. Here, a simple version would do the job where you just create a public list including references to database entries of the PF application.

Another idea would be to include an account management where every account could have several lists. This can be used by companies within and outside of the affected areas to support their workers and their families.

Also, I can imagine that aid organizations, disaster management organizations, government organizations will use it in the same way.

> Also, I think this would have
> to be a cross-browser online system, any standalone app would be hard
> to support across platforms, especially during a disaster.

Again, I completely agree. Because of that I included screenshots of the Seesmic web application to give you an idea that it doesn't has to be a standalone application.

One idea I had is to make it as a separate app based on your Google app engine infrastructure. Here, the app eventually can use a public PF API to query detailed information once a user selects a person on within a list.

> Google has done a great job so far at keeping the system simple, but I
> see that there could be benefits to making an alternative management
> application using their API. The main question is who would be using
> it?

Yeah, I agree. Google did a very good job. The amount of entries and the usage speaks for itself. ;-)

[Tim Schwartz]

So the next question is, has Google already thought of this? :)

This could be a good volunteer project to begin alongside PF using the
Google App Engine. Perhaps make a basic working version and see if
google would want to adopt this as a side project later on, or perhaps
getting some volunteer time from Googlers on this at the begining, so
that the framework falls within their general structures. I think its
a great idea though.

-tim

[Heiko J Schick]

On 13.04.2011, at 22:58, Tim Schwartz <tim.c.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

> So the next question is, has Google already thought of this? :)

Indeed a very good question. ;)

> This could be a good volunteer project to begin alongside PF using the
> Google App Engine. Perhaps make a basic working version and see if
> google would want to adopt this as a side project later on, or perhaps
> getting some volunteer time from Googlers on this at the begining, so
> that the framework falls within their general structures. I think its
> a great idea though.

Yeah, start with a simple feasibility study tom see if we can combine all API and get the handling working. Then, the GUI can be improved.

[Ka-Ping Yee]

Hi,

Thank you Heiko—a lot of great ideas in that presentation.  Just to give a quick answer, we don't currently have plans to build the stuff you're talking about, so don't let us stop you.  :)  I would just advise thinking carefully about the privacy implications of creating links between Person Finder and social networks, as you start designing some of these features.

—Ka-Ping Yee
Google Crisis Response

[Heiko J Schick]

On 14.04.2011 00:03, Ka-Ping Yee wrote:

Thank you Heiko�a lot of great ideas in that presentation. �Just to give a quick answer, we don't currently have plans to build the stuff you're talking about, so don't let us stop you. �:) �I would just advise thinking carefully about the privacy implications of creating links between Person Finder and social networks, as you start designing some of these features.

Regarding privacy ...

• Automated posting to other social networks are always private. For Example: If a status changes a user will get a private message or a direct tweet in Twitter that can only seen by the user and nobody else.
  
• If it is a manual posting, the user has explicitly to decide if he/she wants to post it public or a private.
  

As a first idea I wanted to use the search API as described in the DataAPI [1] wiki page entry. Is this possible to use this API or do I only get some limited content of a person database entry? At the moment the only restriction I am aware of is that the result is limited to 100 records.

Many thanks in advance!
Heiko

[1]: Section "Using the Person Finder Search API", http://code.google.com/p/googlepersonfinder/wiki/DataAPI

[Ka-Ping Yee]

As a first idea I wanted to use the search API as described in the DataAPI [1] wiki page entry. Is this possible to use this API or do I only get some limited content of a person database entry? At the moment the only restriction I am aware of is that the result is limited to 100 records.

When you use the Person Finder API to search, you will receive records with the birthdate and contact information removed.  We wanted to protect people's privacy and avoid the abuse of PF as a spam vector.

—Ping

[Heiko J Schick]

On 14.04.2011 20:20, Ka-Ping Yee wrote:

As a first idea I wanted to use the search API as described in the DataAPI [1] wiki page entry. Is this possible to use this API or do I only get some limited content of a person database entry? At the moment the only restriction I am aware of is that the result is limited to 100 records.

When you use the Person Finder API to search, you will receive records with the birthdate and contact information removed. �We wanted to protect people's privacy and avoid the abuse of PF as a spam vector.

That's fine for me and shouldn't be a problem. ;-)

If it is ok for you, I am planning to start with the "test-nokey" database since I only need search and read access right now.
http://test-nokey.person-finder.appspot.com/

Currently, I am planning to start with a simple feasibility study where I can create and remove lists, add and remove persons from a list and show more details for a person. Also, I want to play a little bit with all the different APIs to see what the best way to proceed is.

Heiko

[Ka-Ping Yee]

Sounds great to me.  This is exactly the kind of thing that test-nokey is for.

—Ka-Ping Yee
Google Crisis Response

On Apr 15, 2011 1:04 AM, "Heiko J Schick" <in...@schihei.de> wrote:
> On 14.04.2011 20:20, Ka-Ping Yee wrote:
>>
>> As a first idea I wanted to use the search API as described in the
>> DataAPI [1] wiki page entry. Is this possible to use this API or
>> do I only get some limited content of a person database entry? At
>> the moment the only restriction I am aware of is that the result
>> is limited to 100 records.
>>
>>
>> When you use the Person Finder API to search, you will receive records

>> with the birthdate and contact information removed. We wanted to

>> protect people's privacy and avoid the abuse of PF as a spam vector.
> That's fine for me and shouldn't be a problem. ;-)
>
> If it is ok for you, I am planning to start with the "test-nokey"
> database since I only need search and read access right now.
> http://test-nokey.person-finder.appspot.com/
>
> Currently, I am planning to start with a simple feasibility study where
> I can create and remove lists, add and remove persons from a list and
> show more details for a person. Also, I want to play a little bit with
> all the different APIs to see what the best way to proceed is.
>
> Heiko
>
>