Tag Archives: User Driven Services

Ten Years Later

Ten years ago I wrote a blog post that captured a key architectural insight at the core of VRM: putting the user at the center of integration not only improves the quality of services, it simplifies our systems. The article captured the gestalt of VRM and helped catalyze a range of conversations that still shape the VRM approach.

Since then, we have seen a lot of progress. Here are a few standout examples. Continue reading

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Beyond Data Ownership to Information Sharing

The question of who owns our data on the Internet is a challenging problem. It can also be a  red herring, distracting us from building the next generation of online services. The term “ownership” simply brings too much baggage from … Continue reading

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A fresh breath

This last year (2009) was the most challenging ever for me, both personally and professionally. Good times, tough problems, people that transformed my heart, and ideas that changed my perspective. It wasn’t always easy, but each challenge had its own … Continue reading

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User Driven Services: 10. Duty of Care

10. Duty of Care User Driven Services look out for their users’ well-being. If a service is truly acting in our best interests, it will take appropriate measures to protect us from dangers resulting from our use of the service. User … Continue reading

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User Driven Services: 9. Self-managed Identity

9. Self-managed Identity User Driven Services let users manage their own online identity. Unless we control our identity online, we risk unnecessary exposure to identity theft and unwanted correlation of online activity. At the same time, online services increase the … Continue reading

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User Driven Services: 8. Improvability

8. Improvability User Driven Services can be improved by users. A closed system can’t predict and satisfy all the needs of all its users, all the time. Sooner or later, someone will eventually desire a new feature or capability beyond … Continue reading

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User Driven Services: 7. User Generativity

7. User Generativity Users contribute to User Driven Services. User Driven Services build on active, engaged participation in value creation. Users should be empowered to augment, annotate, and contribute to the underlying service as much as possible. By enabling users … Continue reading

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User Driven Services: 6. Self Hosting

6. Self Hosting User Driven Services can be hosted on users’ own machines. If we can’t host our own services, we become beholden to those who can. This creates an artificial barrier to portability, limiting user choice and allowing service … Continue reading

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User Driven Services: 4. Data Portability

4. Data Portability User Driven Services let people take their data wherever they go. To exercise choice, we need to be able to move our stuff when we leave, taking it from one provider to another. Users must have the … Continue reading

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User Driven Services: 3. Transparency

3. Transparency User Driven Services are transparent. If we don’t know what’s going on, we can’t make good decisions. Users need simple, obvious, and understandable access to all of the information required to direct each service as desired. We must … Continue reading

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