Activity Streams, Socialism, & the Future of Open Source

ACTIVITY STREAMS,
SOCIALISM,
& THE FUTURE OF OPEN SOURCE

Chris Messina • Open Source Bridge • Portland, OR • June 1, 2010

@chris.messina
buzz.google.com/chrismessina

@chrismessina
#osb2010-0458

you might know me from efforts like
microformats ... barcamp ... coworking ... hashtags

You may also remember me from such chick ﬂicks as:

Julia & Julia; Ira & Abby; and of course everyone’s favorite: Vicky Christina Barcelona

Of course [CLICK]...

these days I work for Google as an Open Web Advocate.

Google, as you know, is the Don’t Be Evil ...[click]

No really, it’s not that bad. And in fact, there’s a great deal of good that Google is doing.
[click]

dataliberation.org

efforts like the Data Liberation Front are leading the way in making sure that, as Google
grows, you always have a choice in how to get your data out!

“GENERATIVE STRUCTURES”

University of Winnipeg

Enough about Google.

Today I want to talk to you about something else. Namely, “generative structures”...

...like the ones that Jonathan Zittrain wrote about in his book “The Future of the Internet (and
how to stop it)”.

[CLICK] if you’re a communist, you can download it for free at futureoftheinternet.org.

Kidding about the communist thing, but that does [CLICK]

futureoftheinternet.org

...like the ones that Jonathan Zittrain wrote about in his book “The Future of the Internet (and
how to stop it)”.

[CLICK] if you’re a communist, you can download it for free at futureoftheinternet.org.

Kidding about the communist thing, but that does [CLICK]

...bring us to our ﬁrst topic!

Yes, we’re going to turn to the soviets to learn about something called activity theory.

ACTIVITY THEORISTS

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky Aleksei N. Leontiev Yrjö Engeström
1896–1934 1903 - 1979 1948 - present

Some of the more prominent activity theorists include Vygotsky, Leontiev, and Engestrom
(yes, Jyri’s dad)

Tools

Subject Object Outcome

Vygotsky

Activity Theory was developed as a way of understanding and shaping a workforce, which was
of course a very soviet thing to do.

As such, Vygotsky’s activity theory was heavily centered on tool mediation and the
relationship of a single actor to an object or objective. The theory goes much deeper, but
from a lay perspective, this is where it all began.

Mediating Artefacts

Subject Goal Outcome

Rules Roles
Community

Yrjö Engeström, 1987

Fast-forward several decades, and the Scandanavians expanded Activity Theory by putting
the actor in the context of a community where there were social norms and roles at work.

This basic framework could help to explain social development, organization, culture, and
social systems at various scales and degrees of inspection.

Mediating Artefacts

Sense


Meaning

Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

Curiously, by studying this model — and examing how goal achievement functions socially —
we begin to understand how meaning is made and cultural understanding grows.

So, if your goal is to actually produce meaning, knowledge, and understanding — you can
work within these constructs to motivate action.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

...especially if you think about how roles, rules, and mediating artefacts (tools) all relate to
one another.

so, for example, if you’re designing a new app for the ﬁrst time, think about how you can
manipulate the roles, rules, and tools increase interest, desire, or motivation you might
develop a series of rewards for completing certain tasks, bounded by rules

PEOPLE DON’T JUST CONNECT
TO EACH OTHER. THEY CONNECT
THROUGH A SHARED OBJECT.

JYRI ENGESTRÖM

Following in his father’s footsteps, Jyri Engstrom proposed the notion of a “social object” as a
primary vehicle for social interaction.

A nice example of this idea is Katamari Damacy, a game where you control a character that
goes around collecting stuff by adhering it to its body.

this is not unlike the way that activities deﬁne who you are today.

indeed, as the game progresses, all these things that you collect come to deﬁne you and your
experience.

rating, add to playlist, favorite, share, copy the URL, ﬂag, play, comment, reply by video

adding value to objects that are uploaded by users. that turns them into social objects.

add notes, tags, comments, favorite, add to galleries, add contact, interact with other
members...

but here’s a twist to Flickr’s approach...

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Yrjö Engeström, 1987

you take activity theory...

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

by focusing on these elements — you can understand why Flickr works the way it does.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

one thing that they’ve done rather well, is make it possible for the subject to manipulate the
rules of the Flickr environment.

and on Flickr, I can set the rules of engagement, making it possible for me to personalize my
experience, and focus on interactions that are more meaningful to me.

This becomes really important when designing social systems in order to avoid “surprises” as
we begin to collate these social objects into...

...as we’ve recently seen with the Facebook community as Facebook changed the underlying
rules that governed the activity in the space.

I’d to now apply some of these ideas to the Mozilla community... [CLICK]

SpreadFirefox

Speciﬁcally the SpreadFirefox community.

Photo by Tristan Nitot

In 2004, I read this blog post by Steven Garrity asking for design help. There was no pay, the
hours weren’t any good, timelines were short and they wanted professionals. So DUH! How
could I resist?

I’d heard of Firefox then, and I was aware of it... and I couldn’t help being drawn to the
symbolism...

This is an Mozilla invitation to their 2.0 release party. I mean, you couldn’t escape the
inviting, “comm...unity” feeling about this stuff.

of course this was also in 2004, back when the rivalry between IE and Firefox was really hot.

And Microsoft wasn’t making any friends with the open source community either.

And then something that no one expected would ever happen occurred: Mozilla released
Firefox 1.0 on November 9th, 2004.
But now they needed to promote the thing.
At the time there were essentially zero mainstream open source successes back then. So
people didn’t have high expectations.

So we setup this site called Spread Firefox, built on a distribution of Drupal called CivicSpace.

The ﬁrst blog post on Spread Firefox was posted 9/12/2004 BEFORE Firefox 1.0 in order to
start rallying the troops in advance of the public launch.

WE'RE IGNITING THE WEB. JOIN US!

Welcome to Spread Firefox. You are our marketing department, a diverse community of people
tired of swatting popups, chasing spyware, combatting identity theft and installing security
updates you could set your watch to. You have a vision of the 21st century web and are ready to
push it to the world, wresting control from a monopoly that has let it stagnate. We'll provide the
tools, but you will drive campaigns that will be rolled out here over the coming months.

The post started off:

“Welcome to Spread Firefox. You are our marketing department, a diverse community of
people tired of swatting popups, chasing spyware, combatting identity theft and installing
security updates you could set your watch to. You have a vision of the 21st century web and
are ready to push it to the world, wresting control from a monopoly that has let it stagnate.
We'll provide the tools, but you will drive campaigns that will be rolled out here over the
coming months.”


We hope you'll bear with us as we ramp up development of this site in the coming months. In the
future, Spread Firefox will coordinate a series of volunteer efforts to promote Firefox, and run
campaigns to focus our community's energy on very tangible, specific goals. This is just a beta,
and there are still validation errors and bugs on the site, so make sure to let us know if
something's not working right or if you have ideas for cool new features. And make sure to add
yourself to the Spreadfirefox announcements mailing list.

It continues, but talked about goals speciﬁcally:

Spread Firefox will coordinate a series of volunteer efforts to promote Firefox, and run
campaigns to focus our community's energy on very tangible, speciﬁc goals.


Our first target: one million downloads of the Firefox Preview Release in the next ten
days. Register, sign in, and spread the word by adding a Firefox promo line to your email
signature and one of our buttons to your web site (or your personal new Spread Firefox blog).
Each time someone clicks on your link, you'll get a point, so you'll be able to see how much
impact you're making. We highlight and publicize the ten most successful promoters in the "roll
call" in the green bar on the right. In the future, prizes and pronounced placement on the wildly
popular Mozilla website will offer additional motivation to bump yourself into the top ten. We
also intend to beef up our referral tracking and award points for many other things besides
referrals, such as donations and active participation in one of our marketing teams.

And set an explicit outcome to get us started:

“Our ﬁrst target: one million downloads of the Firefox Preview Release in the next ten days.”

And then connected each person’s activities to that outcome: “Each time someone clicks on
your link, you'll get a point, so you'll be able to see how much impact you're making. We
highlight and publicize the ten most successful promoters in the "roll call" in the green bar
on the right.”

The idea was to spread these buttons all across the web and promote an ideology of freedom
and choice made manifest in an alternative, open source web browser.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

So how does this relate to ActivityTheory? And why does it matter? Well, because there are
lessons that can be extracted from Firefox’s success that can apply to today’s open source
efforts.

Let’s start by taking a look at the ROLES. [CLICK]

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

VOLUNTEERING

There are many ways to volunteer with the Mozilla project and to help spread
the word about Firefox:
• If you're a developer, you can help fix bugs, or add cool new features as
extensions.
• If you're a security expert, help us find security vulnerabilities before they
became a problem - and get a $500 bounty!
• If you're a tech-savvy users, you can help test our software, file and help
organize bugs or contact web sites that don't work with Mozilla software
• ... and if you're passionate about Firefox and want to help spread the word,
then you've come to the right place.

Under the volunteering section of the site, we listed a number of different ways to get
involved...

VOLUNTEERING

1. The WebApps Team
2. The Design Team
3. For The Record
4. Wordsmiths
5. The Ad Team
6. The CD Bundling Team
7. The Events Team
8. The College Reps Team

There were 8 different teams that you could join to pitch in. We had very clearly articulated
the Roles for the SpreadFirefox communty and made it possible to get involved quickly by
self-selecting.

I made a series of diagrams in 2005 to depict the lifecycle of getting people involved in the
community... from outliers to casual Firefox users to bringing people into the core
community.

It could also be depicted like a cell. You’ll note that the membranes actually help protect the
core developers and commiters — but provide a semi-permeable membrane for letting
people in.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

now let’s talk about the rules.

So in the beginning we had this leaderboard (this is just a mockup that I made but that was
never launched). The rules dictated how you could contribute — and applied to everyone.

Similarly, Mozilla has reused this concept and employed badges as a signiﬁer of people’s
participation in the Creative Collective — same basic idea (promote Firefox) but different
rules.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

Now let’s talk about mediating artefacts — or social objects.

Basically everytime we hit a download milestone, I would head into Photoshop and spend far
too long coming up with graphics like this...

We basically produced all kinds of designs and “social objects” that people could post to their
blogs and share with their friends — that they could use the tell the story of Firefox or use to
identify with the community (i.e. through desktop wallpapers, etc).

And again, this is being continued in the Mozilla Creative Collective... creating new roles and
ways to get involved and producing...

design by foxyboy

clever artwork like this — giving designers a way to pitch in — and feel connected to the
broader effort.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

So let’s talk about community....

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

Community sits in between the Roles and Rules of the Activity model.

In 2005 I created like approximate diagram of the relative importance of different aspects of
the Spread Firefox universe. All together, these areas — with their roles and rules —
represented the SFX community.

And, it was the strength of the individuals within the Mozilla community that lead me to
design the full page ad in the NY Times this way.

I wanted to represent the nearly 10K donors who helped to pay for this ad and get it into the
paper.

These were the people that played a very important role — funding this ad — to make the
collective voice of the community heard around the world: “WE HAVE ARRIVED”.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

but none of this would have mattered if the community didn’t connect to a higher calling —
[CLICK]

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

a clear goal tied to speciﬁc outcomes.

Mozilla's mission is to promote openness,
innovation, and opportunity on the web.
We do this by creating great software, like the
Firefox browser, and building movements, like
Drumbeat, that give people tools to take
control of their online lives.

Mozilla's mission is vague, but provides an area of operation; namely to promote openness,
innovation, and opportunity on the web.

Photo by intothefuzz

And this is why folks like Mitchell Baker are starting to talk about and deﬁne the “open web”
as a “better internet”

And why Mozilla is investing in work like Mozilla Drumbeat

Mozilla Drumbeat is keeping the web open.

It has a less tangible mission, but one that speaks to people who are already on board and
gives them an effort to join.

2004

Still, they’re mechanisms that worked in SpreadFirefox to involve people, and to take them
through the activity ladder using social inﬂuence.

2010

Still, they’re mechanisms that worked in SpreadFirefox to involve people, and to take them
through the activity ladder using social inﬂuence.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

connecting the goals of the project...

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

...with the personal.

But here’s the thing. It’s not happening fast enough. And we’re not doing enough to mobilize
our community and provide meaningful ways to learn about what’s going on and to connect
to people outside of our normal circles.

We had this model in 2005. But what are we doing to make the membrane more permeable
today?

I worry that we’re still focused on the core, and not creating enough lightweight roles to
support the outer rings.

Open
Source

This is important because this model applies to Open Source as well as the Open Web.
[CLICK]

Our challenge is connecting the mainstream with the ideology, practices, and technologies of
freedom and choice.

Open
Source
Web

[CLICK]

freedom and choice.

Open
Mainstream
Source
Web

[CLICK]

freedom and choice.

Let me spell this out for you:
back in 2004 we got a million people to put these little buttons on their homepages,
spreading the message. And we took back the web. [CLICK]

But today, in 2010, Facebook is eating our lunch.

“History is written by the winners”
—George Orwell
Tribune, 4 February 1944

And the problem is that, even though we’ve had 5 years of success, it is not written in stone.

Activity Streams

So let’s write our own history.

They’re not the be-all, end-all solution, but ActivityStreams can help weave together the
open source/open web communities, making us more effective, while retaining
decentralization and individuality.

Open Source put the
networking in
Social Networking

After all, we put the “networking” in social networking.

ActivityStreams

for those of you unfamiliar with ActivityStreams, here’s a brief primer.

the basic idea is to take existing streams of content...

which represent all of the activities coming out of networks, repositories, and so on...

icons by Fast Icon

and provide the metadata necessary to differentiate all the distinct activities coming from
these different sources.

actor verb object target

the ActivityStreams model presents an “actor verb object” tuple, with an optional “target”
parameter

person share link

for example, someone sharing a link...

person started following person

or someone following someone else...

developer fork project-name

or if a developer forks a project.

ATOM

JSON

Photo by trainman74

ActivityStreams currently comes in two ﬂavors: Atom and JSON (though JSON is being
developed)

VERBS &
OBJECTS

and to begin with, we already support a dozen verbs and several well-known objects.

VERBS & • Add Friend • Article
OBJECTS • Check-in • Audio
• Favorite • Bookmark
• Follow • Comment
• Like • File
• Join • Folder
• Play • Group
• Post • List
• Save • Note
• Share • Person
• Tag • Photo
• Update • Photo Album
• Place
• Playlist
• Product
• Review
• Service
• Status
• Video

OBJECTS • Check-in • Audio
• Favorite • Bookmark
• Follow • Comment
• Like • File
v0.8 • Join • Folder
• Play • Group
• Post • List
• Save • Note
• Tag • Photo
• Update • Photo Album
• Place
• Playlist
• Product
• Review
• Service
• Status
• Video

PROCESS

and the process for extending the core schema? well’s it’s pretty simple... and based on the
microformats process.

PROCESS

1. Ask why.


PROCESS

1. Ask why.
2. Do your homework


PROCESS

1. Ask why.
2. Do your homework
3. Propose


PROCESS

1. Ask why.
2. Do your homework
3. Propose
4. Iterate


PROCESS

1. Ask why.
2. Do your homework
3. Propose
4. Iterate
5. Interoperate


Turns out sites like Github are already publishing these kinds of activities.

OBJECTS • Check-in • Branch
• Close • Comment
• Commit • File
• Created • Folder
GitHub • Edited • Group
• Follow • Issue
• Fork • List
• Join • Master
• Open • Note
• Post • Page
• Pull • Person
• Push • Photo
• Resolve • Project
• Save • Service
• Share • Status
• Tag • Video
• Update

and with only a few tweaks, we could easily model this stream of updates in ActivityStreams.

So what if we could get another site like Gitorious to publish their activity streams using the
same basic format?

Let’s consider another example... in this case, StackOverﬂow. You could imagine that users of
those other two sites also use StackOverﬂow, but it’s activity stream looks a little different
[CLICK]

VERBS & • Accept • Article
OBJECTS • Add Friend • Badge
• Answer • Comment
• Ask • File
• Award • Group
StackOverflow • Follow • List
• Join • Note
• Post • Person
• Revise • Photo
• Share • Question
• Tag • Status
• Update • Tag
• Video

still, it’s list of verbs and objects, though it has some differences, has some similarities too.

OBJECTS • Check-in • Comment
• Follow • File
• Join • Group
• Post • List
StackOverflow • Save • Note
+ GitHub • Tag • Photo
• Update • Status
• Video

still, it’s list of verbs and objects, though it has some differences, has some similarities too.

If you start combining these streams from different sources, we could take this great feature
of StackOverﬂow — reputation — and make it more portable — based on people’s actual work
across different systems.

combine that with an identity protocol like OpenID... and add in OAuth to get data, we start
to have something that looks pretty compelling.

The latest craze:

Which explains the interest

distributed social networks

distributed social networks

but we need to remember the lessons of the activity theorists — and work to apply their ideas
to arrive at a more holistic approach to our work

one that is inclusive, models behavior for others to follow, and gives people speciﬁc roles to
take on, within a speciﬁc rule structure.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

because what this model is really all about...

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

is creating new roles for people, with social objects that they care about, and collect around,
with rules that are fair and reasonable.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

in order to connect the individual to a community through shared goals.

Mediating Artefacts


Rules Roles
Community

Engeström, 1987

and working in concert to achieve speciﬁc outcomes that might not otherwise be achievable.

The goal is to change the
economics of work

With the goal of changing the economics of work

The outcome will result in
changed culture

in order to change culture

The history of open source

Because we will be writing our own history...

The future of the open web

And creating the future of the open web that reﬂects our values, ideals, and aspirations.

Activity Streams, Socialism, & the Future of Open Source

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Activity Streams, Socialism, & the Future of Open Source (20)

More from Chris Messina (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Activity Streams, Socialism, & the Future of Open Source