Personal Web is the new paradigm for managing your information. It is like the World Wide Web but yours. Whereas the WWW is for the world's information, your personal web is for your information. It brings together information from your mind, folders and the WWW.
Below is the Personal Web Manifesto, our vision about the Personal Web and how to make it happen. Feel free to support it, comment it, disagree with it, and modify it.
We are already on the way of making the Personal Web happen. We believe that it can become as remarkable and meaninful as the World Wide Web. We want you to join us. Together this is more fun. On the bottom we have listed ways for you to contribute.
##Personal Web Manifesto (v1.0) How do you manage your information? Do you write notes to Evernote, publish everything in Facebook, save bookmarks in a browser, send emails to yourself, or try to use a myriad of different services? Do you feel in control? How long can you continue like this? Or have you given up and google everything again and again and again...
###One browsable entity Today you consume as much digital information as a big organization like CERN 25 years ago. This information is scattered into numerous places; web services, applications, devices and folders. There are services to mash it up but they are almost always "read-only" and limited to a specific information type. You could bring your information together into a single browsable entity, the same way as the WWW has done for the world's information. That's your Personal Web.
###For my any information Today you do not have your information and you even can't have it. Your information is in the services hosted by companies and you can only decide whether or not to use the service. Even if you can export your information, where do you put it? In a cryptic format to a folder? Isn't that inconvinient? You could have your personal web "site", containing your any information, organized for your needs, and looking and feeling the way you want. That's your Personal Web.
###For my own benefit Today companies make huge profits with your information and in return they only allow you to use their services. When you have your information, the control and power shifts from companies to you. A new ecosystem could build around your information, where you benefit from your information. When you have needs, companies and individuals will come to fulfill them. That's your Personal Web.
###Mine for next 50 years Today it is unlikely that your information stays for next 50 years. Services come and go and your information disappear. Same happens to many file formats. One thing that remains for sure is the web. That is your safest option. You could transform and store your information in the format of the web, and place your information into a place you trust. That's your Personal Web.
###Developed by you and me So, what it takes to make the Personal Web? Actually, not much. The Personal Web is very close to the World Wide Web. It has just a small personal twist to make it easier to create. An exemplar of the Personal Web is already running inside of a web service (beta.diory.me). A public version is developed in github.com/DioryMe/personal-web. Anyone is free to utilize it, form businesses around it and contribute to the common development. That's what we at Diory Ltd. do. That's your Personal Web.
##Let's do it now! Something like the Personal Web will inevitably happen anyway, sooner or later. There is a strong trend from public and social to more personal and private as people are looking for their own space and privacy. The question is only who makes this paradigm shift happen and who are the first ones to benefit from it. Let's just do it. Join us now! That's your Personal Web.
##How to participate
We want your support to gain credibility. So show your support by watching us and staring us.
We need your effort to make this happen. You can contribute by improving:
- Personal Web manifesto - what the Personal Web should be? In this document.
- Personal Web concept - what is the Personal Web?
- Personal Web message - how to tell to people about the Personal Web?
- Personal Web format - the standard used to create personal web "views" (ref. html). Probably based on rdf.
- Personal Web browser: Personal Web reader - a software application for retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources on the Personal Web (ref. web browser). Personal Web editor - a software application for creating and modifying information in the Personal Web.
- Personal Web tools - software applications to bring to and/or utilize information in the Personal Web.
That's your Personal Web.
Olli-Pekka Pohjola, Diory Ltd., op@diory.me
Jouni Alanen, Diory Ltd., jouni@diory.me