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DataPortability.org and the Dream of a Web 2.0 Backup System

I just discovered DataPortability.org through Peter Van Garderen's blog post about it. I was entirely surprised that I'd heard nary a peep about it. Some basic examination (running a WHOIS query on the domain) shows that it's still a fairly new project. I have to say, though, that I'm entirely impressed. Those involved have given a whole lot of thought to how they're going to be doing things, as evidenced by those who have signed up to be involved and the DataPortability Charter. To wit, the Charter's principles tend to speak for themselves:

  1. We want sovereignty over the profiles, relationships, content and media we create and maintain.
  2. We want open formats, protocols and policies for identity discovery, data import, export and sync.
  3. We want to protect user rights and privacy.

And, of course, the thing that made me squeal with delight like a pig in mud:

4. DataPortability will not inventing any new standards.

I mean, that's probably the best news that someone like me could get. They have a graphic on their home page that sums it all up perfectly:

Description of DataPortability Project

Now, naturally they didn't have preservation in mind at first, but as Peter's post notes, it's ripe for that sort of use. This also got me thinking about Dan Chudnov's old brainstorm about blog mirroring using Bittorrent and Atom, too. In particular, note this comment of his:

It's a pretty simple idea: you extend an aggregator system to "archive" entries posted each day into bittorrent files, and then build a secondary system to turn the data distributed over bittorrents back into browseable "blog" mirrors if/when you need to. The best part is that you don't really need any new technology to do it.

I feel like things are coming full circle. I also feel like I could really have fun and find new ways to extend ArchivesBlogs, at least when I finish the other countless little projects that litter my mind. Anybody got some free time they want to contribute?

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by M.A. Matienzo

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1 Comment

  • 💬 Mike Giarlo at January 30, 2008, 08:13 UTC:

    I don't have anything specific to contribute, but count me in. I should have a few spare cycles for what they're worth. :)