Distributed Micro-Blogging
Edit, October 2 -- This proposal has been passed along to the Knight Foundation for consideration -- http://drupal.org/node/316403 End Edit
This is a proposal for funding the implementation of the OpenMicroBlogging specification as a Drupal module, in addition to the creation of an install profile that makes setting up a distributed micro-blog easy.
Introduction
One thing that has really blown up in the past two years is micro-blogging and the idea of sending little updates to a mass majority of people at once. These updates are public, and users can "subscribe" to another's updates, therefore encouraging conversations to start, and "lifestreams" to spawn.
Some fairly large websites that provide this type of service are Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook, Tumblr, Spoink, LinkedIn, and more. On the open source front however, we come into distributed micro-blogging, which allows you to subscribe to updates from anyone, no matter what network they're apart of. This is done via the OpenMicroBlogging specification, with some live implementations of it available at Identi.ca/Laconi.ca and OpenMicroBlogger.com/OpenMicroBlogger.org.
The goal of the project being proposed here is to implement the OpenMicroBlogging specification on top of Drupal so that every Drupal website could become a distributed micro-blogging service. Users could subscribe to updates from anyone, no matter what network they were apart of, as long as that network also implements the OpenMicroBlogging specification.
Project Outcomes
- OpenMicroBlogging Module
- Work with the Object Oriented Microblogging Libraries project to implement the OpenMicroBlogging specification, allowing two-way subscription with users from other OpenMicroBlogging websites. Running into bugs or shortcomings in the oo-microblogging PHP library will mean contributing back fixes.
Implement Views integration to allow posts to be filtered by user subscriptions, as well as create the default Views to show all updates by a user, all posts from users that are being followed, any replies made back to the user, as well as a list of the current subscriptions. - OpenMicroBlogging Install Profile
- Create an openly available install profile that would make setting up a micro-blog extremely easy for new users.
People who want to host their own micro-blog could download the install profile, install it on their server, and then start making posts, and subscribe to updates from anyone on other OpenMicroBlogging networks. - Hosted Solution
- Use the install profile to create a hosted solution of the project, allowing users to create their own accounts on-site and start micro-blogging.
If you read through the Goals of the Knight Drupal Initiative, we come upon these three main points:
- To enable more people to enter the digital conversation by lowering the technical barriers to entry.
- To provide powerful tools for digital publication, free and open to all.
- To encourage people to improve their communities by supporting the free exchange of information and ideas.
The Drupal OpenMicroBlogging project largely satisfies all three of these goals. Micro-blogging is all about digital conversation, whether it be through the web browser or your cell phone, it enables you to communicate with others at a wide scale, while making that information easily available to the public. Micro-blogging is a rather new and innovative means of communication and journalism that fits right into the goals of not only the Knight Drupal Initiative, but also the Knight Foundation itself.
- Allow two-way subscriptions to content using the Object Oriented Microblogging Libraries project (five weeks)
- Fix any shortcomings of the Object Oriented Microblogging Library (one week)
- Create the Views integration (two weeks)
- Documentation of the module (one week)
- Create SimpleTests for the module (one week)
- Collaborate with the community for bug fixes and usability (two weeks)
- Put together the install profile (two weeks)
- Register with a web host for the hosted solution (two weeks)
- Total: 18 week project (16 weeks with two weeks overage)
The development team for the project will consist of Rob Loach and James Walker, with off and on involvement from individuals within the Drupal community itself. Both the module and install profile will be freely available on drupal.org throughout their development. The hosted solution will be hosted externally on SliceHost.
- $40,000 for two developers for 200 hours each at $100 / hour
- $240 for one year of hosting with SliceHost ($20 / month)
- $40,240 total request
brilliant
This would make Drupal an even stronger social networking platform. Yammer, a recently launched similar corporate micro-blogging system, won the Techcrunch50 top prize. 10,000 people and 2,000 corporations signed up for the service on its first day. This would make a very useful addition to Drupal intranets and other social networking type sites.
Kyle Mathews
Made of win
This would provide a good starting place too for my distributed social networking idea, although that idea is best to be left as platform-independent.
Christopher S. 'coldacid' Charabaruk <http://coldacid.net/>
Computer programmer and game designer
Like email
OMB is just a spec, well a standard now that there are at least three independant implementations and more being planned (in Ruby, Python, etc). Getting that into Drupal doesn't take away its platform-independence or its federating abilities (being able to follow a person from one host to another) or from taking your posts and moving to another server. It's like email, after the AOL/Compuserve/GEnie days (ouch, I'm showing my age...)
I can't wait to see this happen!
There's a lot more to my
There's a lot more to my idea than just OMB. Honestly, what I'd like to see is something more akin to DiSo, or beyond that; a social network without needing portal sites like Facebook or MySpace to pull it all together, but instead either relying on the features built into the individuals' sites, or federating services provided by other sites (like Flickr or MyOpenID).
OMB is a good start, but it's only a start. As for the platform independence comment, that means we don't have one DSN for Drupal-based sites, another for WordPress sites, etc., but rather all sites being built on a suite of open standards to ensure true platform agnosticism.
--
Christopher S. 'coldacid' Charabaruk <http://coldacid.net/>
Computer programmer and game designer
great idea
please take a look at http://groups.drupal.org/node/19479
it may give you a soln to your your distributed social networking
and a better place to host it..
love the idea though.. we've just been using twitter.. and had over 500 followers in a few days.. just needs integrating into the drupal world.. the right way.
This would be a great
This would be a great addition -- Voted a 5 --
FunnyMonkey
Tools for Teachers
This project is two things
This project is two things that are really needed.
1- A good open source Micro-Blogging solution.
2- A boost of interest in Drupal install profiles.
Micro blogging is really taking off at the moment and if there were a way everyone could host their own if wanted, integrate with others that would be fantastic. Then Drupal makes it 100x more flexible.
If Drupal wants to expand it's audience I think the best way would be through install profiles. It allows users to see drupal from their use case with little development.
Fantastic project and I am willing to help out.
P.S. How about calling the hosted solution FooCity? I will donate the .co.uk and .com if I get a credit somewhere.
As Many As Possible!
It would be great to have as many installations of it as possible! It would give us the ability to easily test it across different versions, sites, networks, content types, users, etc. In addition to your implementation of FooCity, I've also talked with Boris Smirnov who is willing to donate druplr.org.
I can't wait to get it all
I can't wait to get it all going, exciting stuff.
Currently all my Drupal sites run on Lighttpd which I am having some trouble with ImageCache, so I guess these are the sort of tests that need to be done.
please get in touch
Hi,
If you get in touch, we can give you a way to install the "profile" - actually a fully configured site for free.. say 100 times.. in about an hour, once you've setup the site once..
would love to help
S
To add more fuel to the fire
Here's a list of 13 enterprise micro-blogging tools. . .
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/09/08/list-of-enterprise-microbl...
Kyle Mathews
Twit/FLOSS Weekly
BrightLoudNoise also pointed out that a recent FLOSS Weekly covered Laconica and distributed micro-blogging: FLOSS Weekly 37: Laconica.
This is a great idea!
This is a great idea! Explode our web sites even further. You have my vote.
Aaron Winborn
Drupal Multimedia (book, in October!)
AaronWinborn.com (blog)
Advomatic (work)
Rob, Any update on the KDI
Rob,
Any update on the KDI proposal? How long do these things take?
Tim
Meeting
There's an IRC meeting tomorrow and we'll evaluate and discuss the proposal then. You should be there! :-)
I did notice there was a
I did notice there was a meeting, i'll try to make it.
Congratulations
Hi Rob,
I saw your project has been approved! Congratulations!
I would love your input about this proposal:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/11859
I also recommend checking Instant Syndicating Standards.
Thank you for your time!
Best regards,
Nick
Taking on Twitter with Open Source
A great article on Evan Prodromou (the author of OpenMicroBlogging) was published on CNet: Taking on Twitter with open-source software.
Any Updates?
Any updates on this project? I'd really like to implement something like this on our corporate intranet. Currently using Yammer, but I'd like to see it integrated better. I'm also considering deploying Laconica, but feel this project would offer a much more elegant solution.
Thanks,
Mark
I am going to be working on
I am going to be working on something similar to this soon. Want to know where this stands...?
Sam Rose
Social Synergy
Open Source Ecology
P2P Foundation
I'm also starting a similar
I'm also starting a similar project. Any updates?
Kyle Mathews
Meeting
The Monday after Drupalcon, the Knight Foundation will be meeting with the board to discuss the project.
Very cool. Thanks for the
Very cool. Thanks for the update. Hope it passes muster!
Kyle Mathews
Any news? Do you have any
Any news? Do you have any existing code that we can contribute to?
I would like to propose that those of us who have shared interest in this, pool time and money, and any other needed resources to help accelerate the creation of this module.
Lots of people are interested in seeing the creation of this within Drupal, many with money in hand, or desire to commit time.
Let's pool that energy here, I humbly propose.
Sam Rose
Social Synergy
Open Source Ecology
P2P Foundation
Agreed. I've been wanting to
Agreed. I've been wanting to implement a microblogging system for sometime but have been holding off in lieu of supporting this effort. Any news when we can get started?
Kyle Mathews
Vozmob project shared goals
Hey, we've been customizing drupal for mobile blogging, including pictures, audio, and video (as well as text) via sms & mms over at http://vozmob.net (and see http://dev.vozmob.net). Would love to hear how this project is going and be in touch about it, maybe some shared tasks & testing :)
Will this project use
Will this project use http://drupal.org/project/facebook_status ? It seems to have come quite a long way, offering a lot of quite advanced functionality.
Status update please
Please give an update on this project with an estimated dates
Any news?
Any news?
I didn't know about this initiative so i built a micro blogging site for the drupal
community out of laconica. It would be great to move over to drupal :-)
http://groups.drupal.org/node/14953
Best, Paul
This is desire #1 for my
This is desire #1 for my openatrium site. Something along the lines of http://adrianlang.de/mnw/ If anyone has any code to offer, I would like to test it immediately.