Over on the Activity Streams list<http://groups.google.com/group/activity-streams?hl=en>Martin Atkins has been developing specs for representing activity stream data as Atom entries. It makes a great deal of sense to me that we should see this data not only provided via traditional files, but also using Atom Over XMPP so that real-time clients can be built. MySpace (represented by Monica Keller) has been particularly active in helping to refine these extensions to the Atom entry format and recently announced that MySpace and Yahoo are already sharing Atom Activity data.
My hope is that "microblogging" services, that have been the focus of much of the discussion here, will also grow to handle the more general set of events that ActivityStreams encompasses. It's great that I can generate short-messages on something like Identi.ca today and access them over XMPP, but it would be even better if I could have all my "activity stream" data and events handled in the same way. If we can get all the data published over XMPP in a consistent format: "Atom entries with extensions" then it will be really easy to build some really exciting and innovative clients, cross-platform services, etc. For info on Atom Activity Streams, see: http://activitystrea.ms/ (links to draft specs are provided) Discussion is on this list: http://groups.google.com/group/activity-streams?hl=en Documentation of data published by MySpace is at: http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams To give you a quick overview of the kinds of "Activities" or events that MySpace is supporting, I've included the TOC from their spec below: - 1 Activities Stream Spec Compliant Activities<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Activities_Stream_Spec_Compliant_Activities> - 1.1 Single User's Activities<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Single_User.27s_Activities> - 1.2 Friend Activities<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Friend_Activities> - 1.3 Atom Entry Format for Activities<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Atom_Entry_Format_for_Activities> - 1.4 Photos<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Photos> - 1.4.1 Tagged in Photo<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Tagged_in_Photo> - 1.4.2 Posting a Photo<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Posting_a_Photo> - 1.5 Music<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Music> - 1.5.1 Posting a Song<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Posting_a_Song> - 1.5.2 Sharing a Song<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Sharing_a_Song> - 1.6 Notes<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Notes> - 1.6.1 Posting a Blog<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Posting_a_Blog> - 1.6.2 Posting a Forum Topic<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Posting_a_Forum_Topic> - 1.7 Videos<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Videos> - 1.7.1 Sharing a Video<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Sharing_a_Video> - 1.7.2 Marking a Video as a Favorite<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Marking_a_Video_as_a_Favorite> - 1.7.3 Posting a Video<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Posting_a_Video> - 1.8 People<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#People> - 1.8.1 Adding Friends<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Adding_Friends> - 1.8.2 Joining a Group<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Joining_a_Group> - 1.8.3 Creating a Friend Category<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Creating_a_Friend_Category> - 1.9 Events<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Events> - 1.9.1 Band Shows<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Band_Shows> - 1.9.2 Hosting an event<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Hosting_an_event> - 1.9.3 Attending an event<http://developerwiki.myspace.com/index.php?title=Standards_for_Activity_Streams#Attending_an_event> bob wyman
