Significant German document claims: Interoperability of social networking instances is "almost impossible"

[Andreas Kuckartz]

In February 2014 the renowned German research institute "Fraunhofer
FOKUS" and the "Deutsche Universität für Verwaltungswissenschaften
Speyer" published this document (190 pages):

EIN SOZIALES NETZWERK ALS INTERNES KOMMUNIKATIONSMITTEL FÜR DIE
ÖFFENTLICHEN VERWALTUNG
Lena-Sophie Müller, Saskia Fritzsche, Heiko Hartenstein, Stefanie Hecht,
Elisabeth Krämer, Hermann Hill
http://isprat.net/fileadmin/downloads/projektabschlussberichte/ISPRAT_Projekt_Abschlussbericht_SNOEV.pdf

The 190 page document is quite interesting regarding legal and cultural
issues and even some technical topics. But unfortunately it is mostly
ignorant regarding technical work which has already been done to enable
the creation of decentralized social networks.

A result of this is that the document states on page 140/141:

"Die Integration zwischen zwei Instanzen unterschiedlicher
technologischer Basis ist für soziale Netzwerke nahezu unlösbar."

In other words: Decentralized social networks based on standards are
almost impossible. The W3C, OStatus, XMPP etc. are not even mentioned in
the document.

This is unfortunate because the target audience consists of influential
people within public administrations in Germany and the main proposal of
the authors is that a social network is created for the people working
in public administrations in Germany by those public administrations.

I am preparing a mail to the authors and the German "IT Planungsrat"
explaining why decentralization of social networks is not only possible
but well established and necessary - and pointing them to the W3C Social IG.

If others here are able to read German they might want to have a look at
the document and contact me.

Cheers,
Andreas

[Ben Werdmuller]

Hi Andreas,

I don't read German (to my shame) but this is an interesting angle. A large
group of Dutch civil servants built themselves a network on Elgg, an open
source community project I used to run, and the applications for
decentralized tech here are obvious. What if each department could run its
own space, etc?

A government that wanted to test decentralized social tech in practice
could do so this year: the apps and technologies are all there. The
benefits for any group that chose to do so would be great, as the pilot
would be highly cited.

It would be interesting to challenge the assumptions in the paper with
working code.

Ben

Post by Andreas Kuckartz
In February 2014 the renowned German research institute "Fraunhofer
FOKUS" and the "Deutsche UniversitÀt fÌr Verwaltungswissenschaften
EIN SOZIALES NETZWERK ALS INTERNES KOMMUNIKATIONSMITTEL FÜR DIE
ÖFFENTLICHEN VERWALTUNG
Lena-Sophie MÃŒller, Saskia Fritzsche, Heiko Hartenstein, Stefanie Hecht,
Elisabeth KrÀmer, Hermann Hill
http://isprat.net/fileadmin/downloads/projektabschlussberichte/ISPRAT_Projekt_Abschlussbericht_SNOEV.pdf
The 190 page document is quite interesting regarding legal and cultural
issues and even some technical topics. But unfortunately it is mostly
ignorant regarding technical work which has already been done to enable
the creation of decentralized social networks.
"Die Integration zwischen zwei Instanzen unterschiedlicher
technologischer Basis ist fÌr soziale Netzwerke nahezu unlösbar."
In other words: Decentralized social networks based on standards are
almost impossible. The W3C, OStatus, XMPP etc. are not even mentioned in
the document.
This is unfortunate because the target audience consists of influential
people within public administrations in Germany and the main proposal of
the authors is that a social network is created for the people working
in public administrations in Germany by those public administrations.
I am preparing a mail to the authors and the German "IT Planungsrat"
explaining why decentralization of social networks is not only possible
but well established and necessary - and pointing them to the W3C Social IG.
If others here are able to read German they might want to have a look at
the document and contact me.
Cheers,
Andreas

[Andreas Kuckartz]

Post by Ben Werdmuller
I don't read German (to my shame) but this is an interesting angle. A
large group of Dutch civil servants built themselves a network on Elgg,

https://www.pleio.nl is mentioned in the document. But it is
centralized. I once met Davied van Berlo, the main person driving this.

Post by Ben Werdmuller
A government that wanted to test decentralized social tech in practice
could do so this year: the apps and technologies are all there. The
benefits for any group that chose to do so would be great, as the pilot
would be highly cited.
It would be interesting to challenge the assumptions in the paper with
working code.

Well, there are several options to challenge those assumptions. I am
preparing a reply. I am also aware that there are real opportunities.

I am very interested in ensuring that the results of the W3C Social Web
WG will be considered and used in the end.

Cheers,
Andreas