We're creating the fabric for a social web.

In an age of declining social capital, people everywhere find themselves craving greater connectedness and stronger communities. One great promise of the Internet was that it would fulfill this craving, and to some extent it has. People meet like-minded souls online, discuss topics as routine as knitting and as emotionally wrenching as family loss. They develop casual friendships and lifelong partnerships because the Internet truly allows small-town connectedness to make its way around the world one person to another person at a time. Studies verify what we instinctually already know: A greater sense of community is not just individually fulfilling, it also leads to a more civil society. Crime drops, survival rates increase, the economy improves.

The Internet helps us find information we seek and in the process helps bring people together. However, when we shake off the euphoria of the Internet's novelty we see it has yet to fulfill its potential.

How can we filter through the noise on the Internet so that we can focus on what's truly important to us? Where is the real signal that each of us can resonate with? When we discover people or organizations on the Internet, how do we know whether or not we can trust them? How do we tolerate entering in our personal information every time we want to access a new website and understand the implications of giving over that data? How can people belong to many communities online with the ability to easily share information and grow their communities organically into something that resonates with a clear signal to all members and beyond?

These challenges have one thing in common: They all involve sharing our personal information, our digital identities, with others. If we want more targeted information or we really crave the signal, we ought to have the ability to safely and easily share select information about ourselves.

The Imergence Project aims to help in the development of safe mechanisms for sharing identity-related data across different tools while also ensuring there are transparent, easy-to-use, reliable mechanisms to control this sharing process. If we succeed, our work will make the Internet a more civil and trustworthy place, and we will have empowered individuals to build new meaningful connections that can transform their lives and the lives of others.

Because we believe this can't be done with isolated or proprietary technical efforts, we aim to create a community where people address the full spectrum of technical issues and the thorny social issues that ensue. Many organizations are working on small pieces of this puzzle in vacuum-like environments. We want to create an open forum where wheel won't be reinvented but perfected in a group-do way.

Rather than embark on a traditional software development project (our original plan) we have considered models that address a larger lifecycle: funding, incubation, community support, knowledge sharing, testing, adoption and so on. The people at the table are accomplished in particular niches but often lack the skills or time to raise funds, draft business plans, share new learnings, or actively participate in something larger than themselves and their organization. We want to move along that larger development cycle, and authentically help organizations whose hearts and souls focus on social good. An open marketplace seems to be the best means to meet these needs.

One reason previous efforts around identity-related data sharing have failed is because they were conducted by companies common citizens don't always trust with personal information. Instead, we are taking an open and civil society driven approach, that will work with vendors' solutions but not springing from their corporate priorities. A nonprofit open-source model makes it clear to participants and potential supporters that we're working for the public good.

The field of individuals and organizations that will use and support this marketplace is like none other. Small companies Sxip, Netmesh and SixApart, large companies Microsoft, IBM and Verisign, and nonprofits Planetwork, The Synaptic Leap, and the United Methodist Church-amongst many others-have begun to join our conversation because they each have a driving passion for social good, a stake in the outcome and millions of people who look to them for perspective. Inhabiting a neutral space where a diverse crowd can share ideas, resources and audiences will be seen as fresh and vital.

We aren't interested in theoretical frameworks or tired technologies. The people working on this project are experienced facilitators, collaborators, designers, architects, and technologists who want to ensure that the intersocial needs of society are represented, while the practical concrete challenges surrounding digital identity are met in a practical way. We're willing to step out on a few young limbs because we're deeply committed to making this development really happen-and happen for the benefit of people everywhere. Who better to align with than an organization with a proven record and proven people, needed operational pieces in place, and a commitment to international development? Our conversations with Global Giving show us they are the right organization to align with. Although theirs is a different sort of development than we talk about, our work will result in the sort of development Global Giving is working toward.

We will encourage organizations and individuals to post identity-related projects on the marketplace website. Projects will spring organically from the real opportunities people see. To be authenticated and able to receive funds, projects will need to meet certain criteria (references and reputation, financial resources sought, alignment with the Laws of Identity or similar philosophy), and project managers will need to agree to participate actively in conversations with other project managers and the Imergence project coaches to create a vibrant learning community. Where needed, coaches will be available to help describe projects in ways that will appeal and be understood by donors and also help people develop teams with a high likelihood for success. Some projects will be initiated by the Imergence team to address and deliver common functions such as marketing, usability, education and community awareness. Marketplace projects will be funded by the general public as well as through block grants raised specifically for funding important work.

We will also develop bounty programs that will jump start targeted initiatives we know are needed early in the evolution of identity-related data sharing. For example, early bounties might be created for interoperability of single-sign on protocols, interoperability of data identifiers, reputation aggregators, hooks for service provides and so on. Any individual or organization (that meets the reference and reputation, alignment, and so forth criteria above) could apply for one of an established number of fixed-sum bounties to be awarded for doing that work. Funding for bounties will be raised primarily from technology companies who ultimately benefit from groups of people creating these protocols and tools.

Over the next several weeks we will be working with Global Giving to launch our marketplace portal here. People are ready to post projects and our team is ready to coach people through the process. We are scheduling meetings with several large foundations who care about this challenge, the infrastructure needed to make it happen, and the social capital that will result. We will begin talking with organizations about funding the bounties this fall. We are moving ahead on the energy of our passions, however knowing the source of our primary funding will help us move forward fast.

For more information contact kellee at planetwork.net or =kellee, or marcia at planetwork.net or =marcia.

learn more about our planning team >

last updated 11 October, 2006