APML or Attention Profile Markup Language is an open, nonproprietary file format that uses XML to encoded a users interests into a single file.

... consolidated, structured descriptions of people's interests and dislikes. The information about your interests and how much each means to you (ranking) is stored in a way so that computers and web-based services can easily read it, interpret it, process it and pass it on should you request and permit them to do so."

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What APML gives you then is a file expressing the relative amount of attention you have given various URLs and when you last looked at that those URLs. The idea then is that you can move this file from one location to the next, you can also (because it's XML) edit this file if you don't want your profile to include the fact you lingered on something embarrassing.

But what I pay attention to changes over time and therefore having a single file that describes what I pay attention seems a bit wrong headed.

My problem with APML is that it's based on a view of file transfer and data sharing - one where you copy and move a file from one system to the next. I just don't believe that that is how the Internet works. As Chris Messina puts it (in relation to dataportability.org):

In my mind, when the arena of application is the open, always-on, hyper-connected web, constructing best practices using an offline model of data is fraught with fundamental problems and distractions and is ultimately destined to fail, since the phrase is immediately obsolete, unable to capture in its essence contemporary developments in the cloud concept of computing (which consists of follow-your-nose URIs and URLs rather than discreet harddrives), and in the move towards push-based subscription models that are real-time and addressable.

Attention data is highly time and context sensitive - being able to download and share a file with another system seems all wrong. Instead I think that being able to stream data between (authorised) services is the way to go.

If you enabled data to be streamed then you could make you your attention data available at meaningful URLs. For example, my attention for 2007 might be at something like: tomscott.name/apml/2007 and for today at tomscott.name/apml/2008/05/18.

This approach would allow you to expose your attention data (using the AMPL schema if you wish) at meaningful URLs and in useful time slices. You could then combine it with other forms of linked data - like programmes - to give additional context and additional information to your attention data.

I'm all up for making attention data accessible (via an appropriate secure API) but making it available as a file to be downloaded and imported into another app leaves me a little cold.

Photo: What are you looking at?, by Banksy and 'No life before coffee'. Used under license.

Save TextArea permette di salvare in un file (sorta di memoria temporanea) il contenuto di una textarea, cioè quel riquadro in cui vengono scritti i commenti ai post. L'obbiettivo è quello di non perdere quanto scritto se, per esempio, viene accidentalmente chiusa la tab in cui stiamo scrivendo il commento.

Una volta installata l'estensione ogni volta che ci troviamo in una textarea premendo il tasto destro compare, nel menu contestuale, una voce 'Text'; se è la prima volta che si effettua il salvataggio per quella particolare textarea occorrerà decidere il nome del file con il comando 'Save as'. Le volte successive basterà effettuare il 'Save'. E' anche possibile selezionare la modalità 'Autosave' che salverà automaticamente il contenuto con un intervallo prestabilito di tempo (di default 300 secondi, può essere cambiato cambiando un parametro nel file di impostazioni dell'estensione). Ovviamente tramite il comando 'Load from file' verrà ricaricato nella textarea il contenuto memorizzato nel file d'appoggio.

Il problema, rispetto al nostro obbiettivo finale, è che ogni commento ha un suo file ed inoltre non vi è una funzionalità che memorizzi automaticamente il commento stesso all'atto dell'invio di questo verso il server remoto.

Però si tratta di un primo passo verso l'implementazione di un'estensione che consenta di creare un archivio dei commenti in formato XML.

Just a quickie: during coffee break I had an interesting chat with Paul Walk who is a big advocate of OpenID - and has been using it for some time. We started a conversation about the notions of identity, attention data, the social graph, single sign-on, etc. It strikes me that the community is fairly bad at defining how these differ and where they cross-over.

I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to OpenID, but in some ways (he blags) that puts me in a good position: I'm a naive consumer of the service rather than a geeked out pro.

As I had understood it, OpenID seemed to be to be always sold as a single sign-on technology, much like Microsoft Passport (sorry, Microsoft "Live ID"..). The question I have is how far it goes beyond "just a sign-in" technology and moves into being an identity holder. Paul tells me that is exactly what it is, and that's a relief - not least of all because identity is much more interesting than sign-on.

The second question I have is about where the line is drawn around identity. Is the fact that I'm married, for instance (a relationship on my "Social Graph") a question of identity? Would this information be stored in my Identity profile? Would the name (or name of "node") of my wife? Looking at it from one angle, I could argue that yes - this is very obviously identity information. From another, it isn't..

Thirdly, where does attention data sit in this scenario? Over on AttentionTrust, they have a diagram which says "how we browse, what we say, what we read = me" which very much implies that Attention Data = identity. Paul (and others I got talking to) seemed to think otherwise. I'm not entirely sure why, but hopefully we can get some more talking in later on.

I've always had a soft spot for approaches such as FOAF, and that's the final question: how do you map these relationships, and where do they "live" in the OpenID world? Where does OpenSocial sit?

Help.

A parte la mia tristezza per l'immensa perdita il discorso è sempre quello: come riuscire ad avere memoria dei contenuti che spargiamo nella Rete? Come raccogliere in maniera semplice ed efficace, in un unico contenitore off/online tutto ciò che produciamo, sia esso un commento banale o una perla di saggezza? Per i commenti ai post o gli interventi nei forum non dovrebbe essere difficile implementare una soluzione -- un'estensione per Firefox? -- che, in maniera del tutto trasparente rispetto all'utente, salvi ogni testo inviato memorizzandolo (in locale o in remoto) in un file XML, per esempio. Oh no?

Check it out: http://www.cluztr.com/community/widgets/

APML allows users to share their own personal Attention Profile in much the same way that OPML allows the exchange of reading lists between news readers. The idea is to compress all forms of Attention Data into a portable file format containing a description of ranked user interests.

Many companies are already making huge sums of money off of your attention data. APML is a method for you to use it for our own purposes as well.

As your browse the web, with Cluztr, it creates your Attention Profile which you can link or export to any number of third-party online services that supports APML. Just grab the feed from the APML icon on your profile page.

A Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web.

[via Particls.Blog]

Il tema del controllo dei dati personali e dei contenuti generati dagli utenti è indicato da Read/WriteWeb come uno dei topic da tener d'occhio nel prossimo futuro.

Stefano lo ricordava oggi. Web-based è bello, Web-missed meno.

Io vorrei salvare in locale, periodicamente, non solo i contenuti dei miei blog e tumblelog ma anche i commenti così interessanti (perché sono interessanti, vero?) ai post di altri blog che distribuisco in Rete. E vorrei anche contare su un salvataggio automatico - tipo aggiornamento dell'antivirus - della mia libreria su aNobii, delle voci da me compilate su Wikipedia, delle foto su Flickr, dei video su YouTube, dei miei deliri quotidiani su Twitter o Jaiku, dei ristoranti segnalati su dueSpaghi, delle discussioni nei vari walled gardens tipo Facebook o le chiaccherate negli universi virtuali persistenti tipo Second (o Third o Fourth) Life.

Io non voglio avere qui con me solo il mio Lifestream, voglio avere l'intero Federico Generated Content, l'opera omnia del sig. Bo gentilmente dispensata agli altri generatori e/o fruitori.

Non voglio essere escluso dalla mia licenza Creative Commons e non voglio essere catturato dall'altrui licenza proprietaria.

Non voglio essere vittima dei fallimenti o delle failures altrui.

Voglio il mio disaster recovery personale.

E quindi?

Sarà difficile se:

1. Tutti i siti non permetteranno oltre che l'immissione e l'importazione di contenuti anche la loro (ri)esportazione.Visto la preoccupante tendenza - che assomiglia ad una inversione - ad erigere muri e muretti non mi farei troppe illusioni per l'immediato futuro.
2. Ci dovrebbe essere uno standard per l'impacchettamento dei contenuti. Il formato APML va nella direzione giusta ma è solo l'inizio.
3. Bisognerebbe studiare l'implementazione di un software adatto allo scopo. Non è certo la parte difficile. Magari avvalendosi del Web Semantico?

APML will allow users to export and use their own personal Attention Profile in much the same way that OPML allows them to export their reading lists from Feed Readers.

The idea is to boil down all forms of Attention Data – including Browser History, OPML, Attention.XML, Email etc – to a portable file format containing a description of ranked user interests.

Imagine being able to export your Attention Profile from Amazon and plugging it into Digg to get an instantly customized view of the top Digg stories most relevant to your interests.

We anticipate that an ecosystem of technologies can begin to write and consume the format and we are taking the lead with Touchstone’s U-AR and I-AM engines. We look forward to working with everyone in the community to ensure the format delivers on this promise and empowers users to take control of their Attention.

Find out more about U-AR and I-AM at www.touchstonelive.com/technology

Find out more about APML at www.apml.org

Update: For extra coverage click here