(2003-05-09) Decentralization Notes

Dave Winer recently said We talked about DeCentralization and followed where it led. The end of Monoculture. Everything points to it. Kevin Werbach agreed .
Head Map notes You could use a service like EBay, but they charge you for the privilege of selling your stuff, you have to go to them and you have keep an eye on their site. Why not just make a list of your stuff and put it somewhere so that potential buyers can come to you?... More interestingly it reinforces the right model for the future of the internet. The Digital Identity and Reputation Management component, and the links between things are the only part behind walls everything else is distributed and open (even when its secured). The New Market?
MovableType and other folks talking about ways to decentralize Book Review and Movie Review (OpenReview) publishing, e.g. post to Amazon via Track Back, Marc Canter on Structured Blogging via something like the Meta Web Log A P I. Plus some FOAF support coming.
New people-focused stuff like LinkedIn (and Friendster and Ryze) (By Russell Beattie and Marc Canter and Joi Ito and Ross Mayfield and Clay Shirky (re Power Law)) just makes me think "jesus, not another Time Suck of setup". The same way I used to feel about telling multiple sites about my favorite books/authors, musicians/albums, etc.

I'm starting to feel like the eventual model needs to be that each person has a single core/central app/Data Store ("SemanticClient"?) which then serves as a source for new (Social Software and other) applications. OSAF/Chandler, Personal Knowledge Management, EMail Address Book (for White List spam blocking), Instant Messaging Buddy List, WebLog, WikiLog, RssAggregator subscriptions for Universal Inbox, FOAF, new-book notifications, local-event notifications...

Bill Seitz