Identi.ca: Transparency & Discussions on Seesmic Integration
It’s been only a day and a half since I first signed up for Identi.ca and already it seems clear that the new microblogging tool takes open source sensibilities and idealism very seriously.
Open source transparency in action
Evan Prodromou, Founder of Identi.ca, has put in some massive hours covering a variety of activities since the launch early yesterday – most notably including a server migration and subsequent debugging – and amazingly has posted very detailed accounts of his headaches and progress in the form of updates on his Identi.ca profile.
Tirelessly, Prodromou has also pointedly followed up with users for additional information on issues or complaints they have submitted as updates in their own right.
On Identi.ca the conversation is well and truly public. From discussion on the DNS updates following the server migration to evaluating why Jabber updates might be failing, or even outright bitching about MySQL replication; an incredible amount of transparency is being availed to the public regarding what is going on at Identi.ca behind the scenes.
This is very much an open source tradition, in which most, if not all, discussion on development, bugs, usability issues, or road map planning takes place in open forums. Historically this occurred in mailing lists and Usenet groups. However in the realm of microblogging, and Identi.ca specifically – the tool itself is facilitating these activities.
The open dialogue extends as much to future development as it does real-time debugging updates with Prodromou repeatedly calling for feedback and suggestions on the bug/feature list.
Possible Seesmic Integration in the Works?
Interestingly it would seem that early discussions on peripheral clients and integration are in the works as well – both through update exchanges and on the bug/feature list. Most notably it would seem this includes Seesmic and Twhirl.
At least two representatives from Seesmic – python/ruby guru Mike Taylor (Bear @ Identi.ca), and Seesmic CTO, Johann Romefort (johann @ Identi.ca) – have been discussing developmental topics with Evan over the last day or so.
One thread in particular between Johann and Evan discussed XMPP messages:
- Johann: @evan any way to get atom payload in the xmpp messages soon ? We can help you if you want ! [REF]
- Evan: @johann like an Atom XML feed? Or APP stuff? [REF]
- Johann: @evan like to structure the content inside the outgoing xmpp message, so we can use it more easily to integrate into Twhirl
[REF] - Evan: @johann OK, I can make that happen. Do you mostly use the Twitter API, or the XMPP output? Let’s talk. [REF]
- Johann: @evan i m preparing an email about how we could work out Twhirl for identi.ca with XMPP, where can I send it ? [REF]
In another discussion, Bear offers his assistance in beta-testing the API:
- Bear: @evan yep – let me know if you need a beta tester – api’s are my strong suite [REF]
- Evan: @bear thanks, I’d be happy to talk next week [REF]
It would appear therefore that the interest in some form of Identi.ca-Seesmic integration is mutual. Romefort echoed as much when I mentioned that Seesmic integration had been included in the feature list – he responded “yea added that yesterday “
Drilling down into the detail on the request (#00122) yields the following information:
Summary: add seesmic integrationCreated: 2008-07-02 21:15Status: OpenCategory: FeatureFrom: johann?Assigned:Priority: 5Version:OS:Description: having a seesmic threaded player opening each time someone paste a seesmic video. Or we could have a metadata block with the user, title of video, and thumbnail together with a link to the original post on seesmic
As I’ve discussed here time and time again, Seesmic is an application I have grown to adore and am awaiting its integration into Twhirl with baited breath (Seesmic is already present in the current beta, but recording via Twhirl is not yet supported). The opportunity to use Seesmic in conjunction with Identi.ca would be a welcome one indeed and would no doubt make the microblogging tool that much more useful.
I forsee big things for Identi.ca.
