Data Portability Archive

We’ve written about DataPortability before, most recently we wondered what DataPortability means after watching a video by a Plaxo employee. Today that DataPortability group has posted a list of what it is, and what it isnt:

What DataPortability Is:

• Formalizing the discussion of what a users rights are over their data (?)
• Group is made up of individuals, companies, and organizations
• Output of DP Project is freely available
• Will define "Data Portability" generally and within context of the project
• Will help to normalize terminology used within the Data Portability space
• Will help to syncronize efforts across other Data Portability projects.
• Advocacy for Best Practices in Data Portabililty space.
• Using existing technologies, stitching them together.
• Going to define a vision for the future.
• Going to define capabilities, not technical solutions
• About research and education

What DataPortability Is Not:

• An advocacy for a single technology solution
• Developing new technology solution.
• Going to force data into the public that shouldn’t be
• A legal entity providing legal-level precision.
• Currently end-user focused

Not end-user focused? Isnt’t that the whole point of Data Portability?

Call me stupid but I thought when we speak of "Data Portability" we mean the ability to click a button that says Export on Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, etc. and then upload that data set to another network. We would be able to apply filters to the data (i.e. export only women 28-32, men with one cat, etc.).

Apparently I am wrong, at least from the point that Plaxo chief platform architect Joseph Smarr believes. Found via Valleywag, Smarr runs on 45RPM explaining how data portability works. You know Plaxo, they are the company that hired a world-famous video blogger to hack into Facebook and get data on the blogger’s contacts. Check out the video for Smarr’s definition of Data Portability below.

So help me out here, which definition is correct? If it’s Smarr’s then what good does it do if we need to actually interface into Facebook’s system to grab the friends. I get the idea that if left in Facebook, the data will be up-to-date but if Facebook fails, then what? Maybe we need to create OpenFriend :)

Marshall Kirkpatrick over at RWW has the lead on a major announcement by the DataPortability workgroup. To summarize the announcement, a Google representative and a Facebook representative will be joining the DataPortability group. 

Marshall notes, "If things go right, today could be a very important day in the history of the internet." I have checked in with Marshall and he is recovering nicely from the shock.

From the release, "The DataPortability Workgroup is, among other things, actively working to create the ‘DataPortability Reference Design’ to document the best practices for integrating existing open standards and protocols for maximum interoperability. This means users will be able to access their friends and media across all the applications, social networking sites and widgets that implement the design into their systems." 

The new representatives are: Google – Brad Fitzpatrick, Facebook – Benjamin Ling. Plaxo is also sending a representative, Joseph Smarr, to the table after breaking one of the "laws" of Facebook.

Here are the other members of the group: Chris Saad (Faraday Media), Stephen Kelly (Peepel), Ben Metcalfe (Consultant to Seesmic and Myspace), Chris Messina (Citizen Agency, Microformats), Daniela Barbosa (Dow Jones), Phil Morle, Ian Forrester (BBC), Kristopher Tate (Zooomr), Paul Keen (NineMSN), Brian Suda, Emily Chang (eHub), Danny Ayers (Talis), Robyn Tippins (Yahoo!), Robert Scoble (PodTech).

I’d love to get involved – how does someone from the east coast apply?