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Evan Prodromou (18 unread)
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Photos from Evan Prodromou
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jyte - Newest claims about evan.prodromou.name (2 unread)
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MisterBad's Journal
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Unread items (50)
jyte - Newest claims about evan.prodromou.name
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Evan Prodromou started identi.ca
Posted: August 13th, 2008, 3:28pm EDT
Tags: microblogging
Evan Prodromou made this claim.
jyte - Newest claims by Evan Prodromou
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Evan Prodromou started identi.ca
Posted: August 13th, 2008, 3:28pm EDT
Tags: microblogging
Evan Prodromou made this claim. -
I endorse the Franklin Street Statement on Freedom and Network Services.
Posted: August 13th, 2008, 3:27pm EDT
Tags: freedom
Evan Prodromou made this claim.
Evan Prodromou
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26 Messidor CCXVI
Posted: July 14th, 2008, 10:02am EDT
Tags: autonomy
Since the launch of Identi.ca a few weeks ago, I've had a very busy time. Not much sleep, but lots of fulfilling and exciting work. It's invigorating to work on something that is popular and that you believe in. And I'm glad that the Franklin Street Statement so succinctly encapsulates those beliefs.
As some people may have read in my previous blog post about the motivations behind creating Identi.ca (see Journal/14 Messidor CCXVI), I was part of a group convened at the FSF to discuss the impact of the growth of software as a service on user autonomy. It was a very loose organization of hackers, activists, and scholars who come from different backgrounds but all share an interest in user rights online.
As computing moves into "the cloud" (see cloud computing), what power does the user retain to control their own computing experience? As much of our social lives -- romance, family, work, friends -- becomes Web-enhanced, what can we do to assert our right to manage that data and its use? How can software developers and service providers gauge their own proper ethical behaviour, and how can users of services judge what is and is not acceptable to use?
We didn't come up with any easy answers, but we've summarized our thinking in a new document: the Franklin Street Statement on Freedom and Network Services. In essence, we've tried to point a direction towards what software developers, service providers, and software users should think hard about when thinking about network services.
![[image]](http://evan.prodromou.name/images/streetsign.jpg)
Our group will continue to explore these issues on our new group blog, http://autonomo.us/ . We're going to concentrate on the effects of software services on user autonomy -- people's ability to make their own informed choices about their data and creative works and the software that processes them. It is a realm that as a society -- a cluster of societies -- we're only beginning to understand, and I think that there is still a lot of exploration to do.
Autonomo.us includes a wiki where we'll be exploring some of these ideas, and the blog will feature guest submissions about the subject. We're a loose and unofficial group with some smiling benevolence but no sanction from the FSF or any related organization, so we're really going to dig into some of the gray areas of this issue without worrying about making official statements for any one organization.
I'm looking forward to the coming months and I hope this issue captures the imagination of the Web's Open Source and Open Content communities. P.S. You can see the FSF press release about the statement and the launch of autonomo.us.
tags: autonomy franklinstreet softwareasaservice
Open Service DefinitionOn a related note, one of the first organizations to approach the issue of Open Services has been the Open Knowledge Foundation. Today they've launched the 1.0 version of the Open Software Service Definition (OSSD).
I think the OSSD 1.0 is a great step. It's a bar against which we can start measuring Open Software Services. For example, I think that Identi.ca meets the requirements of the OSSD. Other sites, like Wikipedia, are also clearly compliant. Some services that I really like, such as OpenStreetMap and geonames.org, seem to be compliant. But are they? It's good to start this investigation.
I think other kinds of services are on their way there. The announcement by Reddit that their code will now be Open Source is a great step for user autonomy in the social news arena. Now, Reddit needs to consider what an Open Content/Open Data policy would mean for their service... or see others implement it on other sites.
I look forward to a rich ecology of open software services growing, now that we have a name for it and a clear community of people interested in the topic.
tags: autonomy ossd openknowledge
Twitter / evanprodromou
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evan: http://identi.ca/ - open source, distributed microblogging service. OpenID, Jabber, FOAF, CC, but sadly no Fail Whale. #twitpitch
Posted: July 2nd, 2008, 1:22pm EDT
evan: http://identi.ca/ - open source, distributed microblogging service. OpenID, Jabber, FOAF, CC, but sadly no Fail Whale. #twitpitch
del.icio.us/demon
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Identi.ca - Open Source distributed microblogging service
Posted: July 2nd, 2008, 12:33pm EDT by demon
Tags: opensource
Identi.ca is a microblogging site (like Twitter, Jaiku or Pownce) but with a difference: the code is Open Source; all the posts are Creative Commons licensed; and it uses an open protocol for subscriptions between servers. The goal? Compatibility with the -
Identi.ca - Open Source distributed microblogging service
Posted: July 2nd, 2008, 12:33pm EDT by demon
Tags: blog microblogging opencontent openid openservice
Identi.ca is a microblogging site (like Twitter, Jaiku or Pownce) but with a difference: the code is Open Source; all the posts are Creative Commons licensed; and it uses an open protocol for subscriptions between servers. The goal? Compatibility with the
digg / evanpro / history / favorites
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Identi.ca - open source, distributed microblogging service
Posted: July 2nd, 2008, 12:30pm EDT
Identi.ca is a microblogging site (like Twitter, Jaiku or Pownce) but with a difference: the code is Open Source; all the posts are Creative Commons licensed; and it uses an open protocol for subscriptions between servers. The goal? Compatibility with the Open Service Definition (http://opendefinition.org/osd).
Twitter / evanprodromou
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evan: blog post 14 Messidor CCXVI: I've been working hard on a new project for the last couple of months,.. http://tinyurl.com/6mh5uz
Posted: July 2nd, 2008, 12:20pm EDT
evan: blog post 14 Messidor CCXVI: I've been working hard on a new project for the last couple of months,.. http://tinyurl.com/6mh5uz
Evan Prodromou
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14 Messidor CCXVI
Posted: July 2nd, 2008, 10:18am EDT
I've been working hard on a new project for the last couple of months, which I'm glad to be able to share with you now. For the impatient: today my company Control Yourself, Inc. is launching Identi.ca, a new microblogging service. (There's a press release on the Control Yourself site). Users can post short messages about themselves to Identi.ca, which are then broadcast to friends in their social network using instant messages (IM), RSS feeds, and the Web.
The difference between Identi.ca and other services like Twitter, Jaiku, or Pownce is that it is Open Source software. I tried to meet the requirements of the Open Service Definition -- Free Software and Free Data. In the same spirit, Identi.ca supports open standards like OpenID and OpenMicroBlogging, to integrate with other Web sites and services.
A little background: in March of this year, I was privileged to take part in a summit at the Free Software Foundation about open network services. The summit brought together a number of people involved in Open Source and Open Content to discuss problems with "software as a service" and how to solve them.
More and more, people are depending on Web sites and other network services "in the cloud" to do much of their computing tasks. Examples: using Yahoo! Maps instead of a desktop mapping application, or using Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word. Software-as-a-service can be extremely convenient -- data on remote servers stays up-to-date, software gets updated regularly, and you can use different computers or mobile devices to get at the same data.
The sacrifice, however, is user autonomy. If you decide that Google Docs doesn't work the way you want, you can't tinker with the software and fix it. If you want to share a map on your Web site, you need Yahoo!'s permission. If you want to use a new social networking site, you have to re-enter all your personal data and re-invite all your friends. The data and code belong to someone else, and they're hidden behind servers that you, the user, aren't allowed to touch.
There aren't a lot of clear answers to this. But our loosely-organized summit group is moving forward to promote and support Free/Open Network Services. These are Web sites (or other services) that use Free/Open Source software (with the source available) and provide Open Content data (except for data that users mark as private). There are a lot of them popping up -- like OpenStreetMap and Wikipedia. Others are close on the software side, although the data side is a little less clear -- like Wordpress.com, Reddit, or LiveJournal.
After the summit, I wanted to try to see what I could do personally to further this mission. I think several of the sites I work on now -- like Vinismo and Keiki -- would qualify. But I also wanted to break some new ground and challenge people's assumptions about software services. And the services I was using, and getting invited to, the most were microblogging sites. Clearly that was the area to dig into further.
To do it, I started Laconica, the software underlying Identi.ca. It's AGPL'd PHP using MySQL as a backend -- probably the most accessible platform on the planet right now. I used lots of existing libraries to make development easier, and I hired a great designer (Montreal's Marie-Claude Doyon) to give the site a professional look.
Almost as important as the Open Source and Open Content is the distributed nature of Identi.ca. I designed an open protocol called OpenMicroBlogging, based on OAuth, to make it easy for users on one Laconica server to subscribe to notices by users on another server. I hope this will make the service more robust, develop a rich and diverse social network, and stimulate innovation.
Because in the end, that's the Internet that we all want to be part of. As a society we rejected "walled gardens" like AOL, Compuserve, and MSN in the early 90s in favor of the distributed, open nature of the World Wide Web. And I think that the new walled gardens like Facebook and Google, need to be replaced with open protocols and standards. Will Open Network Services be the basis of "Web 3.0", the next stage of Web culture? I truly think so, but that's still an open question.
People have been using Identi.ca for a few weeks now, although I've asked that folks wait until the software was more mature before posting public links. Today I'm lifting that embargo and asking friends and colleagues to join and participate in the conversation.
I hope that people who are sympathetic with the ideals of Identi.ca will take the time to blog about it, invite their friends, and start using the site regularly. And of course I'd love to get feedback on bugs, requested features, and ideas for the future. Please also subscribe to me on the site -- see http://identi.ca/evan -- so I can see who's out there.
There are still so many standard services on the Web that I'd like to see open sourced, open content, and distributed -- advertising, storage, image and file sharing, comments, portal pages, social news, social bookmarks, search engines. There's a real business potential for taking the lead in these areas, and I hope more people jump in.
Photos from Evan Prodromou
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On the pier in North Hatley
Posted: June 23rd, 2008, 8:56am EDT by Evan Prodromou
Enclosure: [download]
Tags: me
Evan Prodromou posted a photo:
Twitter / evanprodromou
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evan: @seancoates Thanks! I'd tell you who did the hard parts, but he wants to be anonymous.
Posted: June 22nd, 2008, 10:42pm EDT
evan: @seancoates Thanks! I'd tell you who did the hard parts, but he wants to be anonymous. -
evan: Dammit!
Posted: June 22nd, 2008, 10:41pm EDT
evan: Dammit! -
evan: Sorry, haven't been using Twitter much lately. I still want to get IM and SMS working before "launch". Share with friends, no public links
Posted: June 22nd, 2008, 10:41pm EDT
evan: Sorry, haven't been using Twitter much lately. I still want to get IM and SMS working before "launch". Share with friends, no public links -
evan: http://ur1.ca/ - a tinyurlifier that meets the Open Service Definition - http://ur1.ca/o - Free Software, Free Data. Cool!
Posted: June 22nd, 2008, 3:09pm EDT
evan: http://ur1.ca/ - a tinyurlifier that meets the Open Service Definition - http://ur1.ca/o - Free Software, Free Data. Cool! -
evan: Vinismo Podcast Episode #2 ("Muggy") is out. http://tinyurl.com/3gsmep We're making a habit of it.
Posted: June 16th, 2008, 9:32pm EDT
evan: Vinismo Podcast Episode #2 ("Muggy") is out. http://tinyurl.com/3gsmep We're making a habit of it. -
evan: Wikitravel made Time's list of the top 50 Websites of 2008: http://is.gd/yp4
Posted: June 16th, 2008, 10:18am EDT
evan: Wikitravel made Time's list of the top 50 Websites of 2008: http://is.gd/yp4 -
evan: @heri That's because it's not yet public.
Posted: June 15th, 2008, 10:09am EDT
evan: @heri That's because it's not yet public. -
evan: @MarkDilley Sorry for such poor communication in the last week or so.
Posted: June 12th, 2008, 5:07pm EDT
evan: @MarkDilley Sorry for such poor communication in the last week or so. -
evan: @seancoates I'll make sure notes go out. This is the beginning, not the end.
Posted: June 12th, 2008, 5:06pm EDT
evan: @seancoates I'll make sure notes go out. This is the beginning, not the end. -
evan: Retweet: emergency meeting of Fair Copyright for Canada tonight, June 12 18h at Station C, 5369 Saint-Laurent. Please come! http://is.gd/vMn
Posted: June 12th, 2008, 9:37am EDT
evan: Retweet: emergency meeting of Fair Copyright for Canada tonight, June 12 18h at Station C, 5369 Saint-Laurent. Please come! http://is.gd/vMn
digg / evanpro / history / favorites
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Emergency Fair Copyright Organizational Meeting in Montreal
Posted: June 12th, 2008, 9:00am EDT
The Montreal Chapter of Fair Copyright for Canada is holding an emergency action meeting to respond to the Canadian DMCA. We'll have information for citizens to learn more about the bill, and materials for writing and sending letters to MPs asking them to oppose the bill.
Twitter / evanprodromou
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evan: blog post 24 Prairial CCXVI: Quick shout to announce an event here in Montreal. In response to the .. http://tinyurl.com/5muzoh
Posted: June 12th, 2008, 1:20am EDT
evan: blog post 24 Prairial CCXVI: Quick shout to announce an event here in Montreal. In response to the .. http://tinyurl.com/5muzoh -
evan: @seancoates Thursday night. We still have almost 18 hours!
Posted: June 12th, 2008, 12:11am EDT
evan: @seancoates Thursday night. We still have almost 18 hours! -
evan: Emergency Fair Copyright Organization Meeting 12 June 2008 6-8PM at Montreal's Station C: http://is.gd/vzj
Posted: June 11th, 2008, 11:43pm EDT
evan: Emergency Fair Copyright Organization Meeting 12 June 2008 6-8PM at Montreal's Station C: http://is.gd/vzj
Evan Prodromou
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24 Prairial CCXVI
Posted: June 11th, 2008, 10:16pm EDT
Tags: dmca
Quick shout to announce an event here in Montreal. In response to the announced introduction of legislation to change Canadian copyright, commonly called the "Canadian DMCA" since the drafts presented so far have closely resembled that American law, the Montreal Chapter of Fair Copyright for Canada is holding an emergency organizational meeting Thursday, June 12th from 6-8PM. The event will be at Station C, 5369 Saint-Laurent #430, in the Mile End neighborhood of Montreal. It's open to anyone interested in learning more about this bill and helping to oppose it.
tags: dmca canada freedom faircopyright
Twitter / evanprodromou
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evan: In north hatley for our fifth engagement anniversary.
Posted: June 7th, 2008, 8:04pm EDT
evan: In north hatley for our fifth engagement anniversary. -
evan: @zcopley Thanks! Leave us a message on +1-206-888-6136 and we'll put it in the show.
Posted: June 6th, 2008, 10:57am EDT
evan: @zcopley Thanks! Leave us a message on +1-206-888-6136 and we'll put it in the show. -
evan: @nantel plus the metro tubes to Laval and Longeuil and the ferry from Parc Jean Drapeau to the Old Port
Posted: June 6th, 2008, 10:29am EDT
evan: @nantel plus the metro tubes to Laval and Longeuil and the ferry from Parc Jean Drapeau to the Old Port -
evan: We do Vinismo podcast ep #2 tomorrow at 1PM EDT. Listen to ep #1, send us feedback before then, we can put it in the show! http://is.gd/rSX
Posted: June 6th, 2008, 12:03am EDT
evan: We do Vinismo podcast ep #2 tomorrow at 1PM EDT. Listen to ep #1, send us feedback before then, we can put it in the show! http://is.gd/rSX -
evan: I'm psyched about the first episode of the Vinismo podcast: http://tinyurl.com/6hk6kv
Posted: June 3rd, 2008, 4:19pm EDT
evan: I'm psyched about the first episode of the Vinismo podcast: http://tinyurl.com/6hk6kv -
evan: Waiting in line for my Mutek passport.
Posted: May 28th, 2008, 8:50pm EDT
evan: Waiting in line for my Mutek passport. -
evan: @Praized 1) advertising 2) donations 3) product placement. It's a matter of scale; podcasting hasn't turned the corner in the public mind.
Posted: May 28th, 2008, 10:13am EDT
evan: @Praized 1) advertising 2) donations 3) product placement. It's a matter of scale; podcasting hasn't turned the corner in the public mind. -
evan: @sgrandmaison _future_ podcasters _will_ be able to make a living at it, though. It's current ones who can't.
Posted: May 23rd, 2008, 10:16am EDT
evan: @sgrandmaison _future_ podcasters _will_ be able to make a living at it, though. It's current ones who can't. -
evan: off to a garden party... probably going to be inside for most of it.
Posted: May 19th, 2008, 2:54pm EDT
evan: off to a garden party... probably going to be inside for most of it. -
evan: Coding while Maj and Amita June play on their pretend train (a line of chairs). Going to the gym soon.
Posted: May 19th, 2008, 10:15am EDT
evan: Coding while Maj and Amita June play on their pretend train (a line of chairs). Going to the gym soon.
del.icio.us/demon
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Dispatches from Digistan
Posted: May 19th, 2008, 9:46am EDT by demon
Tags: openeverything
Dispatches from Digistan -
Dispatches from Digistan
Posted: May 19th, 2008, 9:46am EDT by demon
Tags: blog digistan okfn opencontent openeverything
Dispatches from Digistan
Twitter / evanprodromou
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evan: @RavikiranRao Hey, look! That's a picture of you!
Posted: May 18th, 2008, 9:47pm EDT
evan: @RavikiranRao Hey, look! That's a picture of you! -
evan: Argh! I really want the domain an.us! It's going to be hard to get, but ev@an.us would be an awesome email address.
Posted: May 18th, 2008, 9:44pm EDT
evan: Argh! I really want the domain an.us! It's going to be hard to get, but ev@an.us would be an awesome email address. -
evan: @mcswan yes, with beautiful plumes.
Posted: May 18th, 2008, 11:21am EDT
evan: @mcswan yes, with beautiful plumes. -
evan: darcs push over ssh is taking too long.
Posted: May 17th, 2008, 9:44pm EDT
evan: darcs push over ssh is taking too long. -
evan: President Roslin's monologue about her mother dying is making me weepy.
Posted: May 17th, 2008, 7:42pm EDT
evan: President Roslin's monologue about her mother dying is making me weepy. -
evan: Man, I'm a little hacked out today. But I had a lot of fun.
Posted: May 17th, 2008, 4:23pm EDT
evan: Man, I'm a little hacked out today. But I had a lot of fun. -
evan: @hreview MicroApps; http://microapps.org/ promising collection of Open Source REST-ish apps. Neither integrated nor comprehensive. ***
Posted: May 17th, 2008, 10:44am EDT
evan: @hreview MicroApps; http://microapps.org/ promising collection of Open Source REST-ish apps. Neither integrated nor comprehensive. *** -
evan: At http://codefest.ws/ today, hackin' away. 11 people here already, another 10-20 expected. Hardcore!
Posted: May 17th, 2008, 10:10am EDT
evan: At http://codefest.ws/ today, hackin' away. 11 people here already, another 10-20 expected. Hardcore! -
evan: @hreview Deux Singes de Montarvie; HFS! Great wine list, incredible food, friendly and attentive service. Pricey but well worth it. *****
Posted: May 16th, 2008, 9:10pm EDT
evan: @hreview Deux Singes de Montarvie; HFS! Great wine list, incredible food, friendly and attentive service. Pricey but well worth it. ***** -
evan: Lunch at Jardin Nelson with the in-laws, now off to the gym to pump some iron, think about spam.
Posted: May 16th, 2008, 3:13pm EDT
evan: Lunch at Jardin Nelson with the in-laws, now off to the gym to pump some iron, think about spam. -
evan: @wcopley you can do it!
Posted: May 16th, 2008, 3:11pm EDT
evan: @wcopley you can do it! -
evan: I guess if they all leave, eventually us losers who stay behind will become the "best and brightest" by default: http://is.gd/hpH
Posted: May 16th, 2008, 8:35am EDT
evan: I guess if they all leave, eventually us losers who stay behind will become the "best and brightest" by default: http://is.gd/hpH