SocialPhysics

Higgins and Microsoft

<-This is little Higgins. Does he look like something that would pick fight with InfoCard? I don't think so. Anyone who knows what we’re trying to do here at SocialPhysics and especially in the Identity Gang knows that we’re striving for a common language and understanding in an area whose depth and complexity humbles the mighty. Many of us building technology are influenced by how this conversation evolves, where the common ground is, and where we can build interoperability “bridges.” The implications for society are real. The last thing we want here is more division. This blog post is an attempt to put out the flames that have arisen from recent press coverage about Higgins, IBM and Novell:

Is Higgins competitive with InfoCard?

No. InfoCard is the code name for a Windows WinFX component that provides a user interface and related services that allow that Windows system to interoperate with service providers and identity providers using the WS-Trust and related protocols. Higgins, on the other hand, is a software framework that relies on service adapters that connect to external systems using that system’s native protocols or APIs. [If you're familiar with the framework/provider design pattern, what I just called service adapters are Higgins providers.] We expect that in the next few months a WS-* service will be created for Higgins. Higgins when configured with this service and running on Linux, MacOS, etc. will fully interoperate with InfoCard running on Windows.

How is Higgins related to Microsoft?

We are all indebted to Kim for his important work on the seven laws of identity, for his sincerity and tolerance in reaching across traditional divides and “doing the right thing” to make the web a safer place to live. Inspired by Kim, the Higgins mouse has mended his ways, is now completely law-abiding, and brushes his teeth twice a day. We also are grateful for the support Microsoft has given to the SocialPhysics project (of which Higgins is a part) through the Berkman Center.

More stuff: Background on Higgins, Eclipse and SocialPhysics, Introduction to Higgins, Higgins development site.

Social Networking

Bruce Hoppe (a.k.a. Connectedness) posted a summary of some of the latest bloggings on Social Commerce today.  Bruce comes to Social Commerce from the Social Network Analysis perspective.

An interesting question raised by the NY Times article he mentions and by this NY Times article       A Generation Serves Notice: It's a Moving Target., is what will be the adoption tragetory for new technologies and patterns of social networking across generations over time? Clearly generations that came of age after the advent of IM have broadly embraced IM.  Previous generations are blogging, but at lower rates than Millenials.  How much of this will persist over time?   How much is this due to differences in technology preferences and how much is due to differences in life stage interets?   (Photosharing is a useful tool for dating, and also for trading picture of the grand kids....)   How will the favorite social commerce features for Millenials vary from those for Baby Boomers?

Situational Relevance

Fred Stutzman wrote this analysis of social networking sites from the perspective of what he calls situational relevance. Social Commerce as we're begining to define it blends social networking with commerce-related activities including browsing, searching, seeking recommendations, and shopping. I think these ongoing commercial activities will provide the critical relevance that Fred describes.

Social Commerce?

SocialPhysics is focused on creating the "social web" and fostering a new generation of user-centric web applications.  We've devoted the last couple of years to foundational issues such as identity, reputation, and relationship management (you can follow the identity activity in the IdentityGang wiki, for example.) 

One of the areas where the SocialPhysics approach can provide tremendous value is e-commerce. Over the past year, we've been spending more and more of our time re-thinking e-commerce.  Social Commerce is the blending of the "best" of e-commerce with with "best" of social networking.  Social Commerce is also about inverting the traditional e-commerce paradigm.  It is about commerce organized on behalf of the consumer.

Doc Searls had a great post today on Company Relationship Management (the user-centric version of Customer Relationship Management) and thinking "outside the advertising box".  You'll be hearing a lot more about Social Commerce in 2006.

SocialPhysics blogs

SocialPhysics is kicking off the new year by starting a blog.
Many thanks to Kaliya (a.k.a. Identity Woman) for encouraging us to start.