Local Government on the Open Web

what is the open web?

“?”

what is the open web?

Do we know?

what is the open web?

Does anyone?

what is the open web?

Not really.

what is the open web?

The Open Web is still an emerging term.

It’s definition is not fully formed.

what is the open web?

You can't distill it into a simple sentence or even a complicated paragraph yet.

what is the open web?

So, where do we start to work out what we mean when we talk about this?

seeking definition

The Open Web stems from a common philosophical approach.

There are techniques, practices and technologies that promote the Open Web, and there are those that discourage it.

seeking definition

What makes it open?

Brad Neuberg leads a lot of discussion around this. Here are some precepts he posted for discussion back in April.

seeking definition

Decentralisation

There is no single point of control.

seeking definition

Transparency

“An Open Web should have transparency at all levels. This includes being able to view the source of web pages; having human-readable network identifiers, such as URLs; and having clear network entry points, such as HTTP and REST exposes.”

seeking definition

Hackability

“It should be easy to lash together and script the different portions of this web. What services can you offer that people might want to hack on?”

seeking definition

Third-party integration

Third parties can take your data or your services and use them freely.

seeking definition

Third-party innovation

A third party might use your services or data for something you never intended or considered. This is (usually) a good thing!

seeking definition

Civil society and discourse

“An open web promotes both many-to-many and one-to-many communication, allowing for millions of conversations by millions of people, across a range of conversation modalities.”

seeking definition

Two-way communication

The Open Web is not a broadcast medium. Everybody has opportunity to interact equally.

seeking definition

So. Yeah. Hard to sum up, right?

seeking definition

Big concepts are hard.

seeking definition

Philosophy is hard.

Let’s break it down

small pieces

Web standards.

small pieces

Open specifications.

small pieces

Open architecture.

small pieces

But those last two already have open in the title!

small pieces

Am I cheating?

small pieces

Probably.

small pieces

Let’s backtrack.

Web standards

web standards

Name some.

web standards

HTML.

web standards

CSS.

web standards

JavaScript.

web standards

DOM. (Document Object Model)

web standards

DOM. (Document Object Model)

web standards

Atom.

web standards

They all have a baseline of useful support across browsers.

web standards

Except...

web standards

XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol)

web standards

(It’s not really in a browser.)

web standards

XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol)

web standards

It’s not MSN Messenger.

web standards

It’s not AIM.

web standards

It’s not Yahoo! IM.

web standards

But it is GTalk. (kinda)

web standards

But it is GTalk. (kinda)

web standards

They’re all web standards.

web standards

Even XMPP.

web standards

That means they’ve been approved by a standards body.

web standards

W3C. (World Wide Web Consortium)

web standards

IETF. (Internet Engineering Task Force)

web standards

No single entity has control.

web standards

They’re all open.

web standards

And there are a bunch more...

web standards

What else?

Open specifications

open specifications

EAUT (Email Address to URL Translation)

open specifications

EAUT transforms standard email addresses into URLs.

open specifications

OpenID is a decentralized framework for user-centric digital identity.

open specifications

Microformats are a set of simple, open data formats.

open specifications

MicroID enables verifiable ownership claims to content.

open specifications

It can encode your URL with the URL of the content site.

open specifications

OAuth allows secure API authentication from desktop and web applications.

open specifications

I think you can see where we’re going here...

open specifications

EAUT can turn an email address into an OpenID.

open specifications

OpenID gives you a recognisable identity.

open specifications

Microformats let you publish more meaningful content.

open specifications

MicroID lets you tie that content to your identity.

open specifications

OAuth allows you to securely grant access to the content.

open specifications

Do you see why I love this?

open specifications

People built these technologies as pieces of a puzzle.

open specifications

It’s not some monolithic stack.

open specifications

It’s modular.

open specifications

Each can be used independently.

open specifications

They’re designed to work together.

open specifications

They’re not standards yet.

open specifications

But they’re guaranteed to be open.

OpenID Foundation. MicroID submitted to IETF. Microformats is tidying up IP issues but intend to submit to IETF or W3C. Open Web Foundation.

Open architecture

open architecture

The components are less defined.

Web standards are easy. They’re made by standards bodies.Open specifications are easy. They’re made by open process and guaranteed to be open.

open architecture

Let’s start simply.

open architecture

URLs.

open architecture

They should be readable.

open architecture

They should be hackable.

open architecture

http://omniti.com/is/

open architecture

http://omniti.com/is/here/

open architecture

What about their jobs page?

http://omniti.com/is/hiring/

open architecture

What about their jobs page?

http://omniti.com/is/hiring/

open architecture

Their legal page?

http://omniti.com/has/legal/

open architecture

Their legal page?

http://omniti.com/has/legal/

open architecture

Services?

http://omniti.com/does/design/

open architecture

Services?

http://omniti.com/does/design/

open architecture

Case studies?

http://omniti.com/helps/national-geographic/

While we’re here, did you know that Google reads “national-geographic” as two words?

open architecture

Case studies?

http://omniti.com/helps/national-geographic/

While we’re here, did you know that Google reads “national-geographic” as two words?

open architecture

How’s that for SEO?

open architecture

And readability.

open architecture

And usability.

open architecture

URLs require planning.

I’m not suggesting you leave here and put verbs in all your URLs. I am suggesting you think through what your URLs do for your site. AND for your users.

open architecture

API (Application Programming Interface)

Not every site needs one, but you’d be surprised how far you can get with microformats and hackable URLs.

open architecture

REST (Representational State Transfer)

We’re not going to go diving into software architecture here, but if you’re building an API, build REST. You may add other types on top, but REST is simple, hackable and everybody understands how to use it.

Example time

Twitter. Of course. After two days here, you probably either love it or hate it. If you’re in the latter camp, bear with me. It really is a great example.

twitter as exemplar

Simplicity.

140 characters. That’s it? When you first hear that it sounds so limited. But that limitation provides so much flexibility. All you can do is add 140 characters. There’s very little metadata. Very little cruft. Just content.

twitter as exemplar

Ubiquity.

You can use it from everywhere. Or you could until they started limiting things because they couldn’t cope with the costs. What if everyone in your shire, or council area could access your services from *everywhere*?

twitter as exemplar

Open API.

Anybody can write code to access tweets. Anybody can pull tweets into their own site or service.

twitter as exemplar

Microformats

Twitter uses the XFN microformat to connect your friend’s profiles with your own. And they use them to connect back to your own site and claim it.

twitter as exemplar

Okay, enough Twitter.

Ma.gnolia

ma.gnolia as exemplar

Outsourcing identity

Ma.gnolia no longer accepts new registrations itself. All new accounts must come from third parties.

ma.gnolia as exemplar

What?!

Let’s try something. Who in this room has a default Ma.gnolia account (username & password)? Keep your hands up as we go. AOL account? Clickpass? TypePad? LiveJournal? Wordpress? OpenID? And the big guns... Yahoo? Facebook?

So... Are they crazy or are we?

ma.gnolia as exemplar

Microformats.

<div class="vcard microid-mailto+http:sha1:7420623d3c0f2a07e591c12c27d1b429fb92b77d"> <h1> <a href="http://ma.gnolia.com/people/lachlanhardy" title="Visit Lachlan Hardy on Ma.gnolia"> <img alt="14028_75" class="photo" src="http://ma.gnolia.com/avatars/14028_75.gif" /> </a> <span class="fn">Lachlan Hardy</span> (<span class="nickname">lachlanhardy</span>) </h1> <p class="description"> Lachlan is using Ma.gnolia from <span class="adr">Sydney, Australia</span>. </p> <p class="description"> <a href="http://lachstock.com.au" class="url" rel="me" title="Visit my home page">http://lachstock.com.au</a> </p> <p class="description note"> I'm for building a beautiful, free, and open web. </p></div>

This is my hCard on Ma.gnolia. A microformat. And they automatically claim it for me with MicroID. Yes, I know the alternate text on my avatar is rubbish. I’m emailing them about it.

example time

These are simple things.

example time

Anybody can implement them.

example time

Want to run an OpenID server?

example time

Want to use MicroID?

example time

Want to use Microformats?

example time

The code is freely available.

In so many languages. You just have to set it up.

Use the Open Web

use the open web

The web connects stuff.

John Allsopp said this yesterday.

use the open web

I’m going make stuff up now.

Some of this will have problems. Maybe all of it. Maybe budget constraints or resource limitations. That’s okay.

use the open web

You’re the experts.

This is your problem space. You’re the experts. I’m just trying to show you what I see.

use the open web

You’ll find the solutions.

use the open web

I’m just going to offer you the pieces.

use the open web

I went through dozens of local government sites.

You guys offer a *lot* of services!

use the open web

There are common threads.

use the open web

Let’s start with the obvious.

use the open web

Microformat your content.

use the open web

Make your URLs readable.

use the open web

Make your URLs hackable.

use the open web

Take all the data in your

40,00 PDFsand put it on a web page.

Offer the PDF version for download if anybody wants it, but make the data available in HTML.

use the open web

Then microformat those too.

use the open web

That’s pretty straightforward.

Any objections?

use the open web

Let’s try something harder.

use the open web

Offer relevant web feeds.

Arrange weather feeds for your area. Local events. Council announcements.

use the open web

Offer an API.

Or just publicise all your nice accessible data sets.

use the open web

Offer web services.

Build your own services relevant to your area.

use the open web

Offer an API for them too.

use the open web

Offer and/or accept OpenIDs.

Rate-payers, constituents, international students. Everybody you offer services to.

use the open web

Once users have identities...

use the open web

Your options

explode!

use the open web

Your options

explode!

use the open web

They’re not just users anymore.

use the open web

They’re community members.

They always were, of course.

use the open web

You can offer so many more services when you know who people are.

use the open web

Change of address forms.

I saw an awful lot of these on your websites. How about just-in-time address retrieval from customer details?

use the open web

The community member controls their OpenID.

They change their address as necessary.

use the open web

Offer OAuth access to data.

Let third-parties offer services to your customers. Saves you having to do it.

use the open web

Who are third-parties, anyway?

use the open web

Some of them will be in your community.

Every coder lives somewhere.

use the open web

Offer personalised feeds.

You know my address. How about explicit notifications? There will be roadworks on my street next week.

Make-believe?

Am I completely out of my gourd? Is any of this possible?

Make.

I’ve shown you all of the technology. It’s designed to be built piece by piece.

Believe.

It’s not some grand change. It’s something you build towards. Piece by open piece.

Thank you

find me on the open web

http://lachstock.com.au/