Coming soon -- Syndic8.com...

["Jeff Barr" <jeff@vertexdev.com>]

Ok,

We've been talking about a way to organize our plan to
evangelize the concept of syndication.

I registered the domain syndic8.com today (I know it's
too cute, but I really like it).
 
After I return from vacation, I will put up a site that will 
allow us to coordinate our efforts.

I plan to keep several interesting things on this site:

1. A database of sites that are currently the targets of our
   evangelization efforts. Each entry will be "owned" by some
   user, who will be responsible for talking to the site, 
   getting them to syndicate, and (if that fails) arranging 
   for some scraping.

2. A master list of syndicated sites. I want to have my own 
   list and I want to have a dynamic monitoring facility so
   that I can measure things like site availability, site
   productivity (articles per day), etc. I also want to 
   track contact info. The list itself will be available
   in XML, and I am thinking about a cool XSLT-driven 
   feature to allow users to create their own variants of
   it. I am also thinking about a way to allow users to
   extend the basic site list schema on a per-user basis.
   That way, if I want to keep some information for my
   purposes, I can do so without necessarily polluting 
   anyone else's space. I should also be able to import
   OCS into this list.

3. A strong mission statement, and some articles on why it is
   good to syndicate, and on how to do so.

Clearly, all of this is going to take some time to get going.
I want to play the role of "infrastructure provider" -- I will
set up the framework and deposit the data that I have, and
then I want the community to supply lots of energy and data.
I'll do my best to keep things running if everyone else is
keeping the data pipeline full.

I'm going to need lots of help. I've got a brand new machine
all set up and ready to go, and I should be able to do the
PHP and XML without too much trouble. Beyond that, there will
be more than enough room for you to contribute. I do want to
have some mirror sites for the master list, since I do have
to pay for bandwidth.

Certain parts of the site will be available to the public;
much of it will be available only to registered users. 
Registration will be free in exchange for your commitment to 
help out in some way. There will be a set of user roles 
that will grant read or read-write permissions on a per-
user basis.

I won't be able to do anything besides thinking about this
until late in the month, but I am already starting to 
think that this is going to be pretty cool. I will be 
traveling and almost certainly unable to respond to email
for the next couple of weeks. I'll catch up when I 
return, and then things will start to move!

In the meantime, think about the features that you would
like, and how you are willing and able to contribute.

How does this sound?

Jeff;