Hi all, I'm fairly new to this list, so forgive me if this topic has been discussed before or if the information is available on the wiki (did my best to search both and came up with a blank). I'm probably not as technically savvy as many of you either, so my apologies in advance for inadvertently butchering terms or concepts.
I'm interested in how microformats are being (or could be) used to define both memberships of individuals to a group, organization, company, personal network etc., as well as defining a member's "role" within that group/organization. The hcard format gives us the ability to define an entity as an organization. The XFN specification defines relationships between individuals. Nothing in these microformats (or currently proposed microformats) seems, however, to allow one to describe a list of members in an organization as well as the members' roles within it. I'm curious if there is information or discussion that have already taken place, or if this is an idea for the group to consider? Thinking about it for a minute, I would see implications for: * Groups in social networks - Defining a list of members in a group, as well as each individual's role within the group (e.g. leader, administrator, member, etc.). * Personal networks in social networks? Defining a list of members in an individual's personal network, along with each indivdual's "role" (i.e. relationship via XFN?) in the network. * Employees of an organization - An employee directory, for example, indicating job title (i.e. function/role) in the organization. * Membership in real world groups - e.g. churches, schools, community organizations etc., along with roles (e.g. principal/administrator/teacher/student). * Other possible uses: groups of contacts in a contact database? client lists? etc.? There would seem to be many examples in the wild where groups and group membership are presented. My ability to think through actual hypothetical structures is probably more limited than others on this list, though the first concept my mind fixes is on is the "feed" structure, where a parent feed has child entries. The above concepts seemingly fits such a parent/child concept. That's about where I run out of steam, and am mostly curious about what others think rather than continuing to babble. Thanks for any thoughts and/or assistance from the group. [FYI, the thinking I'm doing on this particular topic is in advance of some reworking my company is doing on its existing niche social networking service. I'm pushing for greater structure (and use of microformats) on our content and entities. The above "groups/memberships" concept is the one area that I have yet to find a place where an existing or proposed microformat is relevant.] Sincerely, Jim Dalton [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ microformats-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-discuss
