“Tools that are designed to make intelligible something alive, the life of the network.” Interview of Hugues AUBIN, ICT Project Manager, City of Rennes (France)
Hugues Aubin: According to what the law defines as communicable public data, it is forbidden to mention any name-related data that has to do with the Open Data contest. This could not be clearer! Then, the following question must be asked: Could the development of hyper-local services, in a social continuum made up of users equipped with mobile phones and profiles, and by optimizing this service through geo-localization and time-related information, be seen as a means to keep track of the lifestream? It goes without saying that such user profile groups amount to a huge data tracking potential. The city of Rennes has quite a unique approach when it comes to managing the situation. The BUG Association has developed three extremely original projects: The first is a social, geo-localized network called “La ruche” (“the beehive”) that will soon be available on mobile phones; the second is “wikiterritory”; and last but not least, is a portfolio consisting of a set of pages that hosts profiles and upon which knowledge is indexed via tag clouds and roughly-designed, graphic infovisualization. These three projects have something in common: You can subscribe to them without disclosing your real name or e-mail address, reassuring all users that their identity will never be sold to a third party. A user name valid for the three applications enables you to project augmented reality-driven daily planners, or geo-localized wiki. This citizen-oriented platform designed to foster social bonds is physically rooted in meetings called “apéruches” during which debates address digital identity control and “wiki-counter”-type initiatives (encounters bringing together all wikiRennes co-workers). We are fierce defenders of this approach because it is based on a model that enables users to benefit from social network functions completely unrelated to their name, yet still in a position to send a potential employer a resumé, to be contacted by people located nearby, etc. This initiative means a lot to us because we are certain that personal data protection is a hot topic, and that this type of protection is not necessarily incompatible with lifestream functions. To now loosen the stranglehold of the main leaders, new platforms, and especially city-run platforms, will have to be brought to life. Otherwise, we are bound to see digital identity-related disputes erupt everywhere. Some Facebook-type networks are reaching critical size, and this will, undoubtedly, trigger issues. At some point, we’ll, inevitably, be faced with migrations (groups of people who decide via the same social network to migrate to another platform).
Grégoire Cliquet: Indeed. Might this be the case with Diaspora?
Hugues Aubin: I don’t know, but I’ve already seen thousands of avatars migrate to other platforms in less than two weeks. These users did not migrate their 3D objects; they migrated their entire community. We would love to see people initiate an alternative, citizen-oriented solution enabling users to benefit from a portion of the leading networks’ functions without having to buy into their policies, for not everyone has teams as huge as Facebook or Google, and which would harbor some kind of “digital third place.” This third place would embody a network where users could rest assured knowing that they would not be tracked down for business purposes, and where they could carefully balance their degree of extimacy. This is a highly strategic issue in today’s age because the main obstacle keeping people from joining social networks is wariness: Internet users are worried about leaving spoors behind and losing control of their digital identity. Some are even frightened by their nephews’, nieces’ or grandchildren’s behavior within these networks. This fear puts off many, and prevents people from joining although it has been proven that these circles are effective building blocks on the hyperlocal front.
For now, the scope of Édouard Durand’s project mostly encompasses customers who represent brands. However, his service contains a strong value-added that private users could enjoy, and this service is right on the money with regards to extimacy control in terms of both diagnosis and suggestions for action. Thus, this project contributes to making people aware and solving the issue. I am positive that Identiscoop is a truly useful project that will, no doubt, appeal to a large number of local environmental players. Speaking of which, in 2010, the Délégation aux usages d’Internet (a delegation in charge of promoting Internet use advancement in France) released a serious game centered on extimacy control.
It is clear that Édouard Durand could not have chosen a more optimal time to launch his project for it is at the heart of current events.
Page 8 of 10 | Previous page | Next page
