Semantic Social Networks
Centralized, global social networks have a unique feature: Instant connectivity. It is very easy to establish communication with anyone who is also part of the network. They also allow us to reach a much wider audience when posting public messages. This is difficult to implement with decentralized systems. Centralized social networks are here to stay; there is simply (as of today) no real alternative to this feature.
But they have disadvantages: Limited control over private data, very little flexibility in terms of available functionality and too simplified abstraction of real-world relationships between members, just to name a few. Their shortcomings become especially apparent when they are used as a collaboration platform rather than as a communication tool.
Connected Samarai brains form automatically semantic social networks. The protocol-free communication between them allows the exchange of arbitrary information. Each connected brain can have one or multiple roles in the network, e.g. as a knowledge repository, functional service, message hub, etc. Any device running a Havel runtime environment can become part of the network. The brains find each other by either manual configuration, local network discovery, using brains that play the role as connection facilitator or using peer-to-peer networking technologies.
Semantic social network can do anything the users tell them to do. A user can setup a community organization platform by either reusing a functional module or by creating the functionality herself. It could also be a message board and knowledge repository. A business platform. An online shop. Or a mix of different functionalities.
This concept of course it not necessarily new, after all we can setup services running decentralized on the internet for decades. What is new is that all runs on Havel. The containing information, the functionality and the communication is all in Havel. End-users can create, setup and run these networks by themselves.
A more technical explanation of semantic social networks can be found here.
This post is part of a comprehensive introduction into SRDM, graph languages and Havel.
Continue reading: The Infoverse
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