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Maya and the Information Commons
Maya is aiming to provide an information commons for community construction. All is very beta, but they sound like they have some interesting architecture.
Sections: Emerging Practice
Topics: folksonomy IASummit
Yet another IASummit find; Carnegie Mellon where I got my Ph.D. is at it again. A CMU spin-off, Maya is trying to create an information commons. The idea is that this would be a repository where people could put appropriately licensed information (practically speaking, creative commons licensed information) for access.
Why isn't this just another wikipedia you might ask? Well, if you think about wikipedia (an increasingly group-effort encyclopedia on the web), you realize that it uses one method of social aggregation for all of its outputs. Essentially, in wikipedia, people have to agree with what you write. Otherwise, you will find it edited or deleted outright. Basically, your contribution will disappear. As Danah Boyd points out, there is no firm attribution and, in some sense as a result, no permanence in wikipedia.
This is not the case with Maya. Contributions remain attributed and are aggregated in a “fusion” process. This seems to be some way of relating information as the user sees fit. In many ways, this reminds me a bit of blogs and the learning blogosphere I described last week but potentially with a lot more power.
I'm going to be in touch with Josh Knauer of Maya so I can learn more. This all sounds very beta and unformed but also interesting.
This ends my IASummit blogging. A very simulating weekend.
Bud posted this on March 7, 2005
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