Idea: a distributed database

[Elias Bizannes]

Talking about a centralised resource, and finding out about Paul's web
equity idea where he has people list their skills, the concerns raised
by people about creating yet another site...it made me realise we need
another approach. And with my Dataportability hat, I realised the
solution exists :).

We simply create a template using Dataportability technologies like
microformats, where people structure their personal information on
their website. So a structured resume with relevant skills and
whatever else we cook up. Because people are maintaining their own
profile on their website, the information will always be up to date.
Anyone can repurpose the idea and manipulate the data, as was
originally said about having some sort of database. And the
siliconbeachaustralia.org domain simply becomes a default aggregator
of those profiles. Other sites can do the same thing, but at least we
will always know there is a consistent place to find this information.

Structured data, in a decentralised manner. We get the whole industry
to do this, as we've now got a virtual social network. Start with
people, but we can use this approach with other applications like
company press releases (that's being, a template people use - and it
simply pings the SBA.org domain as a default aggregator).

[Jason Stirk]

This seems really sensible to me. Especially considering that siliconbeach.org would then be in a position to do all sorts of other things - for example, being able to search skills by locality (using locations microformats) springs to mind as a good way to build up local "birds of a
feather" kind of meetups.

I like the idea a lot, and not least of all because it would be another great example to show the existing social networks that, hey, these open technologies work and have real value.

Sign me up. I'm even keen to help build it.

2008/8/2 Elias Bizannes <elias.b...@gmail.com>

[Myles Eftos]

That is a freaking awesome idea. I'm actually investigating a good way of
spidering this info with existing services for another idea, so I'll keep
this in mind during my research - nothing stopping us coming up with a
microformat schema or working out what formats we need in the meantime
though...

----------------------------------------------
Myles Eftos
Mobile: +61-409-293-183

MadPilot Productions
URL: http://www.madpilot.com.au
Phone: +618-6424-8234
Fax: +618-9467-6289

Try our time tracking system: 88 Miles!
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[Kim Heras]

i dont know what the perfect solution is - but that's gotta be close.


Kim Heras
Editor
TechNation Australia
www.technaton.com.au

On Aug 2, 5:38 pm, "Myles Eftos" <my...@madpilot.com.au> wrote:
> That is a freaking awesome idea. I'm actually investigating a good way of
> spidering this info with existing services for another idea, so I'll keep
> this in mind during my research - nothing stopping us coming up with a
> microformat schema or working out what formats we need in the meantime
> though...
>
> ----------------------------------------------
> Myles Eftos
> Mobile: +61-409-293-183
>
> MadPilot Productions
> URL:http://www.madpilot.com.au
> Phone: +618-6424-8234
> Fax: +618-9467-6289
>

> Try our time tracking system: 88 Miles!http://www.88miles.net

[Paul | WebEquity]

Elias, sounds like a perfect project for the WebEquity
community...Jason, you sound like a perfect WebEquity member ;)

I'll be happy to incorporate the results into WebEquity so that
community members will automatically (optionally) be fed to SBA.org.
This would be useful for anyone that didn't have somewhere of their
own to create their profile and help build credibility for the format.

This could also be a perfect opportunity to test the nature of the SBA
community. I have a site in place that appears to offer much of what's
being suggested (lucky me, I guess), we just need to incorporate the
microformats once defined. Rather than duplicate the idea somewhere
else, why not consolidate efforts towards making WebEquity that
centralised resource? The answer to this question defines what Silicon
Beach is all about.

[Elias Bizannes]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I'm convinced this is a quick win for us as a community that can
bring
real benefit now, rather than waiting for an Intel, a Microsoft, or
a
Google who over time helped their local communities as tech hubs.

So as to not distract the broader silicon beach community, I think we
should spin this off as a separate mailing list where people who are
interested in developing it, can participate. We already have enough
email on this list I think! Having said that though, lets continue the
discussion a little more here because there is no point pursuing this
if (as of now) the 154 people on this mailing list don't support the
concept. I'd like people to review the idea fleshed out below, before
we pursue anything.

So here's my pitch...

-----------------------
Objective: A means of allowing the Australian ICT (Information,
Communications, Technology) community to
a) Become aware of others in the community
b) Be able to discover expertise in the community
C) Be used to guage the activity of the Australian community

Proposal:
Through the use of open data format standards, with the
SiliconBeachAustralia.org domain as the coordinating server to create
consistency, to allow people to markup information about themselves on
their personal websites or anywhere they desire to host their data,
that will enable the discovery of who exists in the community, what
they can do, where they are located and when are they available for
future collaboration. This method is like us creating a distributed
database whereby anyone can query to generate understanding about
Aussie ICT.

As part of the vision, this is about helping identify the 'dots' of
people on a map who are passionate about contributing to Australian
industry. Reinforced by physical world meetups and other online tools
like this google group, it will allow us to build 'connections'
between those dots - creating a more robust community built on strong
interlinked relationships.

Example of what the ideal outcome would be, would look like this:
- Person A can install a plugin that stores information about
themselves on their blog
- Person B can use a generator to perform a similar function, and
embed the core into an HTML page stored on their server
- Person C can use another third party service that participates, to
store the same data
- Regardless, through the use of open standards like microformats, we
can achieve data portability with the same outcome

- The information people store will include
i/ name
ii/ location
iii/ social network services
iv/ Specific skills, in accordance with an ontology controlled from
the siliconbeachaustralia.org domain
v/ Companies that have worked at or are currently working at

- Once setup, analytics can be performed on the Australian industry.
For example, people can query this distributed database to ask things
like
"Who exists in Adelaide". Why? So we can organise local events and
know who to contact
"Who is a IP lawyer with expertise in Belarus". Why? People we
effectively have a industry specific 'yellow pages' of skills
"How many start-ups are there in Perth?" Why? Because we can create a
way of measuring startup activity which can be used for a variety of
things helping everyone from journalists, policy makers, investors, or
even new graduates looking for a job
"A list of all startups in Australia". Actually for the first time,
allow us to fully understand what businesses exist.

Of course, over time we could make this 'database' more sophisticated
to anything what the siliconbeach community deems useful. But if we
start small - with simple things like names, locations, employers,
investments - we already have a very useful thing.

Thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone

[Paul | WebEquity]

> The answer to this question defines what Silicon Beach is all about.

Ooops...I forgot that some people aren't in a position or don't want
to work for equity/revenue share alone.

This does sound like an awesome source of real, valuable information.
My hope is that the WebEquity community would become a recognisable
subset of resources looking for equity/revenue share opportunities, or
those without VC to fund their projects.

[Harriet]

Awesome idea and simple - let's do it.

[warren_s]

On Aug 3, 6:29 pm, Elias Bizannes <elias.bizan...@gmail.com> wrote:

--- snip ---

> - Regardless, through the use of open standards like microformats, we
> can achieve data portability with the same outcome
>
> - The information people store will include
> i/ name
> ii/ location
> iii/ social network services
> iv/ Specific skills, in accordance with an ontology controlled from
> the siliconbeachaustralia.org domain
> v/ Companies that have worked at or are currently working at

Elias,

most of what you've described here I think is covered by the hResume
microformat.

http://microformats.org/wiki/hresume#Schema

(*realises he's preaching to the data portability choir*)

The upside to this is that people with accounts on LinkedIn or other
sites that publish hResume on public pages are ready to be indexed. At
the very least, hResume provides a good base to build from so any
extension should try to stay compatible at least.

Cheers.

Warren

[Elias Bizannes]

Excellent. Time to get work work.

I am concious Silicon Beach Australia is going to be a broad
community, with a lot of ideas, initiatives and projects spinning off
it. So as to not take away from the general discussion, I've made the
decision to spin off this project onto a separate mailing list. We
will report back to this list with our progress and final solution.

If this idea gets implemented, it will be quite dramatic, and I am
quite excited at the thought of the implications, which I suppose
you'll just have to see once we start using it ;)

If you wish to track it, you are welcome to join.:
http://groups.google.com/group/SiliconBeachAustraliaDatabase