Virtual Rendezvous

1. Virtual Rendezvous • Charles L. Perkins • Founder, Chief Scientist

2. Early experiences • Virtual, Social, Interactive Worlds: • PLATO (1975-6,79-80), Advent (80) • the Net, Object-Oriented thinking: • ARPAnet (1978-83), Usenet (1980-6) • Smalltalk (1981-83), Xerox PARC (84)

3. Research background • Academic, corporate labs, alternately: • Harvard Univ. (1979-83, 86-90) • Verbex (1982) ➱ Dragon Systems • U.C.Berkeley (1983-4), MIT (80-3) • Thinking Machines (1985-6)

4. Early contributions • NeXT, NeXTWORLD (1989-93) • 1-800-Wildfire (1990-1) • VRML, α-world, SIMnet (1992-5) • Java, rendezvous.com/java (1993-97) • IMPP (1998-9) ➱ XMPP, IETF (1986-99)

5. Company relationships • 3DO, US West, Time Warner (FSN) • Continental Cablevision ➱ Comcast • firstperson ➱ Java, Firefly, Abuzz • Alexa ➱ “What’s Related” in Netscape • DimensionX ➱ Keen.com, TellMe

6. Virtual Rendezvous • A Set of Ideas • An Evolving Design • A Set of Prototype Implementations • A Community of Virtual Collaborators • A Foundation for Standards, a Platform

7. Rendezvous principles • Loosely Coupled, Elegant, Simple • Embrace and Define Open Standards • The Opposite of Not-Invented-Here • Only Social Relationships matter • yet allow people, software symbiosis

8. Universal standards • Interlocking, but Loosely coupled • Built above existing IETF, Open APIs • Separates Naming from Protocol, API • Defines the Atoms in a Periodic Table of Connections and Relationship Elements

9. Ubiquitous platform • At all Times, In all Places, Forever • Across all devices, existing and future • Provides useful Molecules, Compounds • Policy-less, but with intelligent Defaults • Allows many forms of Chemistry

10. Rendezvous concepts • Persona • Context • Activity • Facet • Relationship

11. Persona definition • Fundamental unit of (Multiple) Identity • Pseudononymous not Anonymous • Embodies Mood, Aspects of Your Self • Everyone has a growing number, 2-12+ • One is Special: your True Name

12. Persona examples • Username, Screenname, OpenID, etc. • Avatar (3D), Icon, Facebook ... URLs • Home, Work, Gaming, Porn-browsing • Home Business, Social Butterfly, Hermit • ... / goal / social / seeking / soulmate

13. Context definition • Fundamental unit of Place, Location • Embodies both Nearness, Where-ness • Has the Set of Persona currently There • Has a default Group (Shared Activity) • Every Persona has a unique Home

14. Context examples • URL, URI, canonical URN • ... / SecondLife / <Region> / X, Y, Z • Spherically close to named Landmark • ... / Rendezvous / Virtual / Telephony • Running an Application, Watching Video

15. Activity definition • Group (Set) of Personas, engaged in... • Any Shared Activity, Task, Goal, Hope • Has Collaboration, Communication Tech • Embodies both Means and Purpose • Lives in a Context, which rarely changes

16. Activity examples • Chatroom, IRC channel, IM conversation • E-mail/slashdot-like thread, blog Users • Set of Avatars near one another in 3D • On the telephone, a Physical meeting • Set of Persona browsing a domain, URL

17. Facet definition • an Aspect of any Persona, Context, Activity (Group), or Relationship • Has a Type (System, Name) and a Value • Blends Data and Behaviour seamlessly • Allows sophisticated Visibility Control

18. Facet examples • .../address/street/number: Java,int,42 • XML schemas, data ⇔ graph of Facets • Radically distributed Native XML DBs • Storage of useful (or personal) Info • the Platform UI is built using Facets

19. Relationship definition • Explicitly represents Implicit P2Persona: • Family, Spouse, Intimate Friend • Friend, (Business) Acquaintance • Talked-to, Touched, Seen, Near • UML Superset: 1:1, 1:many, Set, Graph

20. Relationship examples • RDF, OWL, Open Cyc, Ontologies • M-language Concept graph ⇔ XML • Bob <.../eros/unrequited/work> Alice • aContext <1:many, Set> aPersona • aNode <many:many, Ordered> aNode2

21. Rendezvous naming • Every Entity has a Concept-Unique ID • Every Entity has a Canonical Name • Stored in a Directed Acyclic Graph • Created, Updated via Web graphs • Extendible by Users, Vetted and Not • Entities inherit from multiple Parents

22. Name examples • You’ve seen several in previous slides • .../service/intangible/virtual/world/sex • M-language dictionary word Senses • .../shop.2/clothes, .../social.3/women • http://name.com/path/.../leaf ➯ .../URL/com/name/-http-/path/.../leaf

23. Platform concepts • Across all Web, Social, Virtual worlds: • Presence, and One Way to update it • Identity, and One Place to change it • Reputation, Guaranteed Useful • Value (Attention), Asset Movement

24. Platform goals • Ever-growing Ubiquity, Universality • Always the best way to see/find People • Always the best way to manage Yourself • People/SW Service, Stranger Discovery • People Browser via Web of Relationship • Everything Extensible by Everyone

25. Platform features • Manages a Web of People not just URLs • Spans all Devices, Fixed and Portable • Blends Real-time, Store & forward • Automatic Web login, service, download • Radically distributed, shared Resources • Manages personal Info, Access, Privacy

26. Platform status • Research partnerships in place: • MIT, Google, FSF, others (ask) • Open Sources identified, investigated • Prototypes of browser/server in Java • P2P/Jxta, Ruby implementation started • Detailed Design, User Stories, on-going

27. Future needs • an Executive Director for Business Dev. • Additional Partnerships, Sponsors • Funding, Donations of Money, open SW • The Virtual Rendezvous Foundation • You! ➯ enthusiastic, growing Community

28. Contact info • http://rendezvous.com • VirtualRendezvous at G-mail • Visit if you’re near Harvard Square • Q & A, during the Cocktail Reception