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21 Feb 2008 @ 21:16, by ming. Networking
It is odd that nobody has made an open, public, platform free social network yet. Social networks *should* be independent of any particular central website, but it hasn't happened yet. They're all isolated, proprietary islands. Or, even if they're built on open source software, there's no way of exchanging much between them.
My main contribution to the field of social networks was and is the New Civilization Network. Which still exists, and I'm posting this message from my blog within it, but which is a bit dated in terms of it's software. But it has had profiles and buddy lists and blogs and forums and picture galleries for more than a decade. At the beginning, it was the intention to create a platform for social networks that would span many servers, run by different people, so that one could plug into it from many places, each having a different flavor, but accessing the aggregated resources of all of them. "The Sprawl" was the code name for this plan. Didn't actually materialize, so today NCN is just another isolated island in cyberspace.
Facebook, Ryze, Orkut, LinkedIn and all the others are also separate islands. Several of them have interfaces so that programmers can add modules to them, or access a limited amount of information from them. But nothing at all that allows you to move seamlessly between them.
People who make virtual worlds are working on standards that would allow you to go from one to the other. There's no terribly good reason you shouldn't be able to teleport from Second Life to World of Warcraft. To create something like that would require that one defines a minimum of characteristics that a virtual character would have everywhere, so that each world could implement a way of supporting them.
Social networks could do the same. If there was a shared way of representing a person/profile, what they do, and who they know, it should be something transferrable. But it is probably harder than the virtual reality scenario. Because a big part of it is the relation one has with other people. Or, we could say, with other profiles. And how do they exist, separately from a particular network site and its software?
That probably ties in with identity. How does one know that the ffunch on Facebook is the same as ffunch in Orkut? Not without some shared standard of identity, one that everybody would support.
But, assuming that the problem of a universal identity system was worked out, what would be interesting would be if somebody made the pieces of a platform-free social network.
The web is based on some standards for presenting content, and linking it together. It doesn't matter what server anything is on, it is just part of the address. So, I can link to your stuff from my webpage, hosted on any which web server, and I can even include some of your stuff on your server in my page on my server.
That is of course how a social network should work too. I don't just have friends who use the same brand of shoes as me, or who drive the same brand of car. I have friends wherever they happen to be, and whatever they do. The web way of doing it is of course that I can link to them, and make a list of them, no matter where they are, what ISP they're using, etc.
I can call your Nokia phone from my iPhone. Doesn't matter at all, as long as I have your number. That's kind of the point of network structures, that one can link freely between nodes. That's kind of the definition of a network. So, what we call Social Networks are kind of fake networks. One can list web links as before, but one can only link to people who are wearing the same shoes, who are subscribed to the same website.
So, all it takes is that somebody comes up with a way of expressing profiles and lists of contacts in a standardized format that can be put on any website. Some kind of XML thing that has most of the things you'd find in a profile on Facebook. Your interests, where have you worked, the lists of movies you like, and links to other profiles.
There is, of course, FOAF, which is indeed an open format for expressing a list of contacts. And, really, it is what the Semantic Web is supposed to do. And the World Wide Web could transform into the Giant Global Graph, connecting everybody with everybody else, no matter what server their stuff is on.
"Social Graph" is a word that expresses what Social Networks should have been, but aren't: the actual network of connections between people.
I don't know what's so hard about it, since it hasn't yet happened. Other than it maybe is more complicated than it seems. Whenever I try to look at the work of standards groups that are working on pieces of that puzzle, I walk away confused. I'm not sure if that's because it really is terribly complicated, and I'm a little slow and/or impatient, or because they're making it more complicated than it is.
Sometimes a major advance in Internet standards comes from somebody who didn't bother dealing with committees taking years to work through all the complexities. Dave Winer invented RSS and XML-RPC and other good things, basically just by deciding what would be useful to himself. RSS is very simple, and can't really be called anything other than a huge success. Somebody might come along and do the same thing with the standards needed for social graphs.
Anyway, in a week and a half I'm going to BlogTalk and Webcamp in Cork, Ireland, which will focus on these kinds of things, I'm sure, with smart people who've been much more involved in possible solutions than I have. So, hopefully I'll get a little wiser on where things are going. More >
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1 Jan 2008 @ 22:17, by neva. Networking
Establishing referral network for therapists
I'm looking for personal recommendations for all types of healing facilitators and therapist, by state and by country.
If you know a particularly superior therapist, and are willing to share why you feel this therapist is so good at what they do, I'm looking for your recommendation for my blog at [link]
I want to be able to list therapists that people believe in, because of the personal results they themselves have experienced.
If you are a therapist, you may not recommend yourself. The recommendation can only come from one of your clients who is willing to share their story and their experience of your support in their lives.
I'm looking forward to hearing from anyone who might like to commend someone who has been instrumental in their healing process. Help spread the word about healers that are good at their job!
Here is a really good example of what I'm looking for:
client feedback on colonics therapist
Thanks, Neva
Post your stories at [link]
All comments are monitored before being added so as soon as I read the story and get back to you to confirm what you have submitted, I'll add your therapist to the list.
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 24 Jun 2007 @ 23:17, by mre. Networking
The prototype Global Assembly Dialog is set to begin in late July 2007 using a web rating technology to vote on messages written by the participants. Please join us. Your part will be to write a message and to read and rate messages written by others. The highest rated messages will be distributed back to everyone by email. The goal is to go global with massive numbers so that the "elected" messages truly represent the entire human race.
The Dialog is sponsored by the Unity-and-Diversity World Council. See udcworld.org/global. Co-sponsors wanted. Contact UDC's Rev Leland Stewart at udcworld1ATyahoo.com or Roger Eaton at rogereatonATearthlink.net.
At this point we have about 4000 email addresses, which will likely equate to between 400 and 800 active members. Once we hit critical mass, estimated at 10,000 active members, we should be able to zoom to planetary size in three or four years. Please join us as we build a world that works for everyone.
We are betting that democracy on a global scale is the solution to the ever more obvious shortcomings of the nation-state system. We love our nations, but we have to rise up to the global level to solve global problems. Unifying mankind, if we do it right, will mark the beginning of a golden age – and it is in our reach.
We have two plans to bring the online GA Dialog down to earth so it will have its effect. First, as we recruit groups and networks for the Dialog, we will be asking them to add a mention of Dialog results to their local agendas and to provide representatives to an annual in-person Global Assembly meeting. The annual Global Assembly meeting is expected to evolve into a global institution that sits permanently, something like the U.N. General Assembly, but organized bottom up from groups and networks rather than top-down from the nations. Second, we have high hopes for a Nonviolent Service Arm (NVSA) of the Dialog as described below. More >
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 17 Jun 2007 @ 20:09, by ming. Networking
I've seen this movie before but this sequel is different & better because it's a blockbuster and everybody's doing it Roland Tanglao, paraphrasing Tim Bray. We're talking about Facebook.
I didn't pay attention to Facebook before just recently. I'm a member of too many online social networks where I have a list of "friends", and nothing else is going on. And at first glance Facebook sounded like just another one, and one I'd be even less interested in than the others. Its positioning seemed to be about finding people you went to college with and that kind of thing, which sounded boring.
I had indeed signed up quite a while ago, and I was getting friend confirmation requests. But the problem is that the options they give you all seemed irrelevant. Normally I've met people online, maybe through blogs, maybe we were in the same network or group or something, or maybe we met at a conference. But none of those are among the choices, so I had to settle for "Met Randomly", even though it wasn't very random. So that just confirmed that it wasn't for me, and I never logged in. Until it became apparent that a lot of people I know think it is a great thing, and I actually logged in and looked around.
And, indeed, there are some things they do that lift it to a whole other level, and it isn't very much at all like Ryze, LinkedIn, Orkut, Xing or Viadeo. The first thing is that you get a feed of what changes about any of your friends. The second is that there's a whole lot of things to do, so there's a lot to see in that feed. And, thirdly, they have what they call applications. It means they've made an API that allows third parties to add modules to their hearts content, to add new functionality, which is nicely integrated with the rest of the site.
Those extra modules make me do some things I otherwise wouldn't bother doing, like rating books I've read recently, because the fact that it is shared with my friends list makes it somewhat more meaningful. None of it is particularly important stuff, but it hooks into the same principles that makes twitter or jaiku interesting. It gives me a continuous ambient awareness of what's going on within one's sphere of friends. There's a swarm kind of thing going on, where I'll catch if a bunch of others suddenly get interesting in a particular subject or a particular application or a particular group. And it does that for me with fairly minimal investment of time, as all I do is to update a few profile type of settings here and there, and I watch one stream of small updates from others I know.
So, this does point at something that's new and interesting, a new type of social interaction, and a trend for the future. But, like the other social networking sites, Facebook is an island. You don't really plug into it unless you're a member. And what if there are several places like that, and I'll had to choose. It is only going to be more permanently useful if there are open standards, and it doesn't matter which particular system I plug into. I'm interested in sharing information with my friends, but I could care less about keeping track of a list of separate websites one can network at. They would have to become more invisible. More >
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 24 Jun 2006 @ 00:22, by mre. Networking
Dear Friends, Our topic is "Organizing a Unity-and-Diversity Global Assembly from the Bottom Up." That means the real thing, a powerhouse Global Assembly to put the world on a better path. Can we possibly succeed? In preparing this talk, I was reminded of Shel Silverstein's cartoon of two raggedy men chained hand and foot, hanging from a wall. One turns to the other and says, “Now, here's my plan.” That's me to you - I have a plan. My aim today is to convince you that those two guys did get down off that wall. More >
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5 Nov 2005 @ 09:02, by shreepal. Networking
I propose that a call be given through NCN web links to all those individuals, groups and organizations who are engaged in their own way to change our present world to bring a New Civilization to hold as early as possible an Earth Summit of the Leaders of New Civilization. The agenda of this Earth Summit should be to draw and adopt a Charter of Action For New Civilization Global Movement.
Here I am setting out a draft working Charter for consideration, amendment, if necessary, and adoption by such Summit.
CHARTER OF ACTION
FOR NEW CIVILIZATION GLOBAL MOVEMENT
HAVING FAITH:
THAT planet earth is our common home and we human beings have inherited it from our forefathers, in trust for our own use and for the use of all other life-species dwelling on earth of the present and of the succeeding generations.
THAT all life-species are sacrosanct and deserve survival and preservation at our hands.
THAT all man-made disputes – whether social, cultural, economic, political or any other - arising from conflict of interests are capable of being resolved by human beings in peace and amity;
THAT mankind is an evolving species being at the apex of life-evolution on earth yet being at an intermediate stage only; and
THAT mankind is capable of exploring the unknown micro and macro universe, harnessing the unveiled secrets of nature and its forces, and is capable thereby to consciously shape her destiny and the destiny of earth and of universe;
AND BEING CONVINCED
THAT mankind is living under the threat of annihilation at her own hand by the use of weapons of mass destruction;
THAT a firm and sustainable human-unity is the only effective and workable guarantee to protect human race against such threat of self-annihilation; and
THAT such human-unity can only be established on the solid foundation of the commonality of human-interests, the commonality of purpose of life of human beings on earth and the commonality of the destiny of human race;
WE, THE CITIZENS OF EARTH, CALL UPON
PEOPLES OF ALL NATIONS, FAITHS AND CULTURES
TO INTERLINK
With the aid of modern technology,
TO UNITE
As Global Peoples’ Voice; and
TO ACT
As United Peoples’ Global Movement
- THAT OPPOSES those individuals, Business Entities and Political Governments who act against the numerated three faiths, two convictions and four objectives of New Civilization; and
- THAT SUPPORTS those individuals, business Entities and Political Governments who act for the enumerated three faiths, two convictions and four objectives of New Civilization;
New Civilization hat seeks to ACCOMPLISH, in common interest,
COLLECTIVE SURVIVAL of all life-species on earth by observing peace, good order, complete and global disarmament and respect for and conservation of nature;
FREEDOM, from political, economic, cultural and social oppression, within national and international organizations of human society, by guarding the individuals’ human rights and the interests of organized society;
COMMON PROSPERITY of peoples by utilizing technological advancements and scientific management of global natural resources to avoid waste, unsustainable exploitation and natural imbalance, and to bring efficiency;
GLOBAL UNITY among different subdivisions of mankind by promoting mutual respect for diversity, understanding and harmony in diversity; and
ENLIGHTENMENT of human beings by encouraging them to imbibe the knowledge of science, from material science to psychic science, and encouraging them to remain always open to change of convictions.
More >
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 18 Sep 2005 @ 12:45, by silviamar. Networking
When you first join NCN you are like a traveler landing on a new place, carrying your own expectations & doubts, and seeing lot of things around that you may not understand well... Imagine that there is somebody at the airport waiting for you to welcome you and show you the place. Don't you think that it would be much easier for you if such a friendly person were there? You would feel better and more confident to make your first steps in that new land. With these thoughts in mind, I've started the Landing group. We can set up a warm atmosphere for those who join, to encourage them to do their first steps here. More >
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 25 Jan 2004 @ 08:13, by ming. Networking
Orkut is a new online social network. And I need another one of those like I need a flowerpot stuck on my head. It is getting a little irritating to go through the same ritual every time, of looking for people you know and inviting others you think might be interested. That should really be automatic.
Most recently I had joined OpenBC, which I like. Has some features I like better than Ryze and not a lot of annoying "You'd actually see the results of this search if you were a GOLD member" messages. And a predominantly European focus. Got some very good contacts out of that already.
And then Orkut is announced Thursday. Interesting phenomenon about how quickly things happen, and how somehow that network happened to right away seem more compelling, even though the features are not all that different from the other ones. For one thing, it is affiliated with Google, done by one of their employees, supposedly in his spare time, so it got a lot of exposure. And then it is by invitation only, which somehow makes it seem a slight bit more attractive, and might make it more likely that one feels obligated to invite all one's friends, so they aren't left out. I got the first invitation at 2AM. And didn't realize right away that the network had started the same day. But now, two days later, *everybody* seems to have joined it already, and it is buzzing with discussion groups and so forth. Well, *everybody* who normally is active in that kind of network. Which is a large group, but still largely the same faces.
In 1995 my vision was to make a network of networks. Social network servers, where people could join the node that they were most attracted to, and there would be a way of linking them all together, so you could find each other even if you didn't join in exactly the same place. Well, I didn't quite figure out how to do that technically, so it became "just" one server with a particular social network. But now that it is a mainstream idea, embraced by a lot of techies, somebody really ought to figure out a way that they'll all interact with each other.
Network connections should be more like a commodity. Like e-mail addresses and accounts. You'll choose a server and a client that has the features you like, but you should really be able to link to people on other servers as easily as on your local server. It should be controlled more by my local address book and preferences than by a particular server. I should be able to find people across all servers, and be able to find the special interest groups they've set up. That'll take adherance to standards. And some new ones are needed for the people networking thing. FOAF seems to be one of the more promising attempts in that direction. We need a set of Open Network standards that all these networks would have a competitive advantage in adhering to. More >
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2 May 2003 @ 12:48, by sharie. Networking
NCN is a great place to create anything we want.
When your personal life is great, and you're happy with your work, and your home life is wonderful... you may want to get a broader perspective on the global situation, and NCN is the place to do it.
If your personal life sucks, you have no friends, you can't get along with anybody, you can come onto ncn and point fingers at other people, and get a bunch of other people to point fingers and then you'll feel better about yourself. And NCN is the place to do it.
If you want to focus on compiling research so you can contribute toward creating a new civilization... and then offer your work for free on your newslog... NCN is the place to do it.
If people want to interfere with your work and waste your time on things that are unimportant to you, you can ask them to leave you alone, and when they don't, you can block them. Thank you Ming for that. NCN is the place to do anything you want, and that's why NCN works for me.
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 30 Dec 2002 @ 22:39, by ming. Networking
Something got me to start reminiscing about the history of the servers and websites I've been intimately involved with. Well, it is the end of the year, so I suppose it is appropriate.
I'm writing this in my weblog, which most people read at ming.tv, but which arises from the integrated NewsLog function of newciv.org - the New Civilization Network.
I had my first website in early 1994. It was served over ftp rather than http, because real web hosting was harder to come by. I called my website World Transformation, because that sounded like a good thing I'd be interested in, and I just listed some sub-interests and some links for each. Today it looks quite similar to back then, I'm embarrassed to say, which makes parts of it very outdated now. Later in that year I got an offer of free hosting on protree.com. At the time it turned out to be THE starting place for a bunch of alternative/metaphysical sites that later made it big, like Rene Mueller's SpiritWeb. Bob Garth who was running the server had just a 28.8 modem connection, but that worked perfectly fine in those days.
When NCN happened in early 1995, the thought was that there would be a bunch of decentralized servers, owned and operated by different people. Max Sandor started the first one, which he called "Server One". A 16MHz 386 running Slackware Linux. This too had an always on 28.8 modem for the net connection. Max took care of that for several years.
At some point I took that server over, and connected it to a new T1 connection in Venice, California, in the Global Solutions Center, later Synchronicity Networks office. Many more stories to tell about much of that. The hardware got replaced since then a few times. A total sequence of about 4 servers since 95 I think, although there have sometimes been several at the same time. Once, for several months, the servers lived in a plastic box on the parking lot by the beach in Venice, which was rather strange and risky. Somebody else had moved into the premises, but the T1 connection was still on, so we drilled a hole in the wall and led the cable out to that rubbermaid storage container, which was made for garden tools or something. Luckily nobody stole it. After that, the servers moved to Beverly Hills with the T1 line for another year or so, where I worked with Julie on the Oasis TV website and other things.
Nowadays there are luckily more options. I work out of my house and have a few servers here. The current main server is now located in Irvine, California, on a T1 line at the offices of one of my clients. NCN and my own sites are on it, as well as many other good non-profit sites such as Global Ideas Bank, International Society for the System Sciences, BagelHole, Spirit Rising, Richard Hawkins' Synergetic Geometry animations, Art of Living, Unity-and-Diversity Council, CyberSangha and probably many more I'm forgetting. More >
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